


There is no way to reach words by working on silence

by firstlight



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, I'll tag them latter if the make an actual appearance, M/M, Slow Burn, Soonyoung is kind of dumb but he means no harm, idk - Freeform, if you squint there's verkwan, probably everyone in svt tbh, probably?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-02-22 23:44:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13177743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstlight/pseuds/firstlight
Summary: Wonwoo's heart is broken when he meets MingyuThe wind blew, no one was talking, the garbage bags were long forgotten and Wonwoo could start to feel his skin itching from the mosquito bites. Tonight was definitely odd, one minute he was with his friends pretending to smile and the next one he was sitting comfortably next to a completely stranger.





	1. L’esprit de l’escalier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo's heart is broken when he meets Mingyu
> 
>  
> 
> The wind blew, no one was talking, the garbage bags were long forgotten and Wonwoo could start to feel his skin itching from the mosquito bites. Tonight was definitely odd, one minute he was with his friends pretending to smile and the next one he was sitting comfortably next to a completely stranger.

“Jun doesn't like me back” Wonwoo said bitterly after half an hour of Soonyoung begging him to tell him what was wrong and why weren’t they already in their way to the bowls. As soon as he opened his mouth he knew this was gonna be a long night.

“Wait, what? Do you like someone? Do you like Jun?” Soonyoung expression was not surprise it was shock, Wonwoo just nodded not meeting his friend’s eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I even asked you like a week ago if you had a crush on someone or  
something! I can’t believe you! you really are something aren’t you?” at first it seemed like Soonyoung was outraged but then his face turned softer and sad, Soonyoung locked eyes with him.

“Did he reject you?” This time Wonwoo’s face was the one turning into a grimace.

“He’s already seeing someone else, he told me yesterday” he could feel a knot forming on his throat “He said I was the first one to know…”

Wonwoo felt guilty for not telling Soonyoung before, It’s not that he didn’t trusted him, he was one of the most important people in his life apart from his family, he was his best friend, It’s just that he liked to keep himself low-key, and he knew how nosy Soonyoung could be, that and maybe because he was a tiny bit embarrassed to have an actual crush.

“Since when?” Still caught up in his mind he hummed a soft ‘hmmm?’

“Since when do you like him” Soonyoung said again with a worried look on his eyes but in a loud and blunt voice that made Wonwoo feel shy.

“Oh, maybe a bit over half a year? Since last year’s halloween I guess” He said as casually as possible while he fixed his glasses.

“You guess? What does that mean? It’s already August, that was almost a year ago dude! what the fuck? You had a crush for almost a year and I didn’t even noticed?”

Soonyoung was now practically screaming and Wonwoo realized how pathetic it was to be crushing on a friend for over nine months and not doing anything about it, he had to admit, there were times he thought Jun liked him back and he placed a little too much faint in that without actually doing anything about his crush. Now Jun was dating some kid he had just met three months ago and if he ever had a chance now was too late and the only one to blame was himself. Before he could even register what was happening, arms were already squeezing him tightly, he realized tears of frustration were dropping from his eyes to land on his black sweatpants, leaving a little stain that would probably dry soon, the metal frame of his glasses was now awkwardly pressed against Soonyoung’s cheek and little by little he started to calm down.

“I have decided, tonight we’re not going anywhere, we’ll order a pizza, I’ll get us some ice cream and we’ll get your little pretty heart healed with a movie marathon, how does that sound?”

A grateful and sincere smile appeared on Wonwoo’s face as he unwrapped himself from the other’s embrace and although he was moved by his friend’s kindness he shocked his head.

“Thank you Soonyoung”, he cleaned his eyes with the back of his sweatshirt “but I think I need to be alone for a while, at least for today”

 

 

 

After Wonwoo closed the door and Soonyoung had left his apartment he made his way directly to the bed and curled into his blanket. He was just thinking, thinking about how lately Jun was brighter, how he was humming and his eyes looked almost sparkly. Yesterday, when both of them went to grab lunch after classes, celebrating the start of summer break, Jun started to talk about how a teacher back in China told them how she knew who her husband was gonna be the moment she saw him, how it was so strange but she just knew it was gonna be him. Wonwoo laughed, the idea of love at first sight was ridiculous, but Jun keep explaining him how it’s not quite ‘love at first sight’ per se, but the feeling of knowing someone is gonna be a big part of your life the moment you see them.

“That sounds like bullshit to me” said Wonwoo proudly drinking up his banana milk and smiling.

“Well, I think that's romantic kinda like finding your soulmate” Jun laughed a bit while covering his smile with his hand, Wonwoo found him endearing.

“That sounds even more like bullshit”

“Your soulmate doesn’t have to necessarily be romantic you know? it could be like your best friend I think, like I could tell you were gonna be part of my life the first time I saw you, back when you were at the back of the classroom reading Macbeth, remember? and now look at us” Jun raised his eyebrows proudly, as if he had just said the an unbeatable argument and then he took a bite of his bread, Wonwoo rolled his eyes chucking but he stopped when he noticed the sudden change of Jun’s eyes, he had now stars in his eyes and Wonwoo almost choked.

“I may have felt something like that not too long ago” Now Jun was smiling fondly, Wonwoo could tell something was coming and he didn’t know if it was gonna be a good or a bad thing.

“Minghao, he’s kinda amazing and I could tell that the moment I saw him, he’s just-“ Jun stayed still not finding the right words and doing a gesture with his hands, he looked him in the eyes before continuing “he’s different from everyone else, yesterday I asked him out, and he agreed, so now we’re dating” Jun smiled so tenderly Wonwoo couldn’t even react, he had never seen Jun smile like that, he had seen Jun’s witty, friendly, polite and natural smile, but he had never seen this smile, something sharp ached in his chest but he ignored it, Jun looked so happy he was glowing.

He must have stared at him way too long because the look Jun was sending him was a curious one and Wonwoo quickly broke the eye contact instead focusing in his own hands.

“You’re the first one to know, since you are, you know, one of my best buddies and I know you wouldn’t judge me for, you know, dating a boy…”

Wonwoo froze for a second and the next thing he knew was that he had to leave.

“Oh, that's great, we should totally celebrate, but hey, I still need to finish my assignment so I better get going”

Jun was surprised at the abrupt change of mood and he looked visibly sad, maybe even disappointed, still Wonwoo waved quickly at him and left.

He walked at a fast pace, he was almost running, he was such a bad friend, why couldn’t he be nicer? Why couldn’t he say ‘Congratulation Jun’, anything would have been fine, he should be happy for his friend, he was, but at the moment his mind was a blur, it still was. Wonwoo covered his head with the blankets of his bed not being able to stop the feeling of gilt building inside him. He was blaming himself for so many things.

 

 

 

It had been a week since Soonyoung’s visit and Wonwoo was still feeling horrible, but for some reason he was dragged out of his house. He hadn’t seen anyone except for his best friend and, even thought Soonyoung was trying to be as gentle as possible about Wonwoo’s heartbreak (Wonwoo refused to call it that), he quickly became impatient and started bugging him to go out.

“I really wish I could understand the way you think sometimes” said Wonwoo as they walked along the street. It was already seven in the afternoon and although it wasn’t really chilly it was a bit humid as it had been raining earlier, it was a typical summer night.

“There’s nothing to understand, I just think you can’t lock yourself in your apartment your whole life just because a boy doesn’t likes you back” Wonwoo snorted.

“Dude, I literally was doing homework the whole week”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have to isolate yourself from everyone else” Soonyoung kicked a pebble on the floor and then he looked at Wonwoo and in a more apprehensive tone he said “I hope you realize Junhui is gonna be there, and he’s bringing Minghao with two of his friends”

Wonwoo kept silent for a few seconds and breathed as if he was trying to calm down.

“I know, just make sure to not say anything weird, I don’t want things to get awkward okay?” Soonyoung nodded, Wonwoo was gonna make sure things didn’t get worse.

 

 

 

Of course things got worse, it looked like Soonyoung was trying everyone to notice Wonwoo’s uncomfortableness around Junhui. They were talking about how Minghao’s roommate worked at that bowling place when Soonyoung, out of nowhere, almost screamed.

“Oh wait, I don’t wanna be in Jihoon’s team, Wonwoo, change team’s with him!”

Wonwoo facepalmed himself and Jihoon send Soonyoung a glare. Certainly, Wonwoo wasn’t really up to be in Junhui and Minghao’s team, but Soonyoung couldn’t be more obvious right now, besides, Junhui was still his friend and he didn’t want to make things more complicated.

“I’ll change team’s with Jihoon” said Minghao sending Wonwoo a shy smile, noticing how annoyed the other probably looked. As expected, Minghao was a total sweetheart, with his shiny pretty eyes and his little round nose, Wonwoo couldn’t even pull himself to dislike him, Minghao was such a nice boy, even he would have fell for him.

“Oh no, don’t worry Minghao, ignore him, he’s an idiot” Wonwoo babbled almost too quickly for his own liking “besides I was gonna go to the bathroom, so you should start playing without me” he finished standing up and leaving the table.

Just as he walked through the large corridors looking for the exit he started to feel sick. The shiny red sign inscribed with the letters ‘EXIT’ was at the top of a door made from opaque glass. As soon as he was outside the soft breeze of summer swung over his thin dark locks, he had to clear his mind so he sat on the sidewalk of the parking lot, right beside a big plastic dustbin. ‘This is what I deserve’ he thought.

 

 

“Mingyu, take out the garbage will you?” Said Jeonghan as he cleaned some bowling shoes.

“But my shift is already over! And I have to meet with my friends” a whine made its way out from a lanky boy wearing a blue polo shirt that happened to be the bowling workers uniform.

“Yeah, I know, you can leave before you throw the garbage away, also you’re the youngest one so…”

“Chan is the youngest one not me!”

“Well, Chan shift is over and his mom already picked him up so you’re the second youngest”

“But Seungkwan is the second youngest!” Mingyu pointed an accusatory finger to said boy, whom smugly walked past him.

“What he meant was that the trash should be thrown away by the trash itself” Seungkwan commented not even bothering to spare a glance at Mingyu. Before someone else could say anything Seungcheol, the manager, spoke up.

“Mingyu, do us all a favor and throw away the garbage, please”

With resigned sigh Mingyu took the garbage bags and proceeded to the exit.

 

 

 

It was dark when Mingyu stepped out of the building carrying two big garbage bags full of soda cans and other stuff, mostly paper and cardboard plates. The light posts of the street were shining brightly against the pavement of the parking lot, it was a breezy and warm night, the mosquitos were flying erratically in the air looking for preys to bite and Mingyu was making his way to the trashcan when he noticed something, or rather someone, sitting next to it. The person was sitting on the sidewalk and was burying his face in between his knees, he didn’t look well, in Mingyu’s opinion, and even tho he really wished he could mind his own business, finish his task quietly and continue with his life, the other man was in the way to accomplish his work. With a sigh he flopped the bags on the floor.

“Excuse me… sir? Would you mind…”

The other didn’t even move an inch at Mingyu’s voice.

“Could you please move so I don’t have to throw this bags over your head?”

“I don’t mind, you can throw the bags over my head if you want” a deep voice answered.

As much as Mingyu would like to do that and finally finish his shift, he wasn’t a bad person and he figured out that for someone to be that indifferent at the possibility of garbage collapsing all over your head, you must be feeling pretty down. He squatted down next to the other, maybe he could get him to sulk somewhere else.

“Why are you sitting here anyways? There could be rats or cockroaches crawling all over you for all I know” the stranger snorted.

“Are they?” Mingyu found himself smiling at the man’s witty answer.

“Well, no, but there's plenty of mosquitos flying around your head, so you might  
as well want to move”

“My blood is not that tasty, I’m sure they will end up regretting if they bit-”

At the time the other was speaking Mingyu noticed a big fat mosquito placing itself against the guy’s nape and, without even thinking about it, slapped it with his palm executing it. A tiny stain of blood was left on both Mingyu’s and the stranger’s skin. The murder of the mosquito was followed by a long pregnant pause. Slowly, almost lazily, the stranger raised his head towards Mingyu’s direction, looking right into his eyes with an expression between discomfort and perplexity.

“What is your problem?”

This time Mingyu found himself being the one not answering back. The latter’s voice was deep, but it sounded almost hoarse, perhaps shocked by the slap. He was a young man, probably around his age, but somehow he looked more mature than him with his dark and straight hair, thick eyebrows and sharp-drowsy eyes. His bony body was covered by a military green bomber jacket, he was wearing some light denim skinny jeans folded at the bottom, showing his ankles and his white and blue New Balance. The artificial light of the street light reflected on the metal frame of the boy’s silver-round glasses and suddenly Mingyu felt like an outsider, as if he was watching something he shouldn’t be seeing.

Too engrossed by the other’s marvelous presence, Mingyu didn’t realize the look the latter was showing, and when he did, he quickly recovered and focused on answering, but something lingered on his mind, he didn’t fully knew what but he just kinda felt something about this guy, Mingyu panicked.

 

 

 

“I annihilated it” said the boy with a serious expression, showing his palm and what it seemed to be the corpse of a mosquito.

Dumbfounded, Wonwoo stayed still for a little while before he abruptly started to laugh.

“Annihilated you say?” He muttered in between cackles “Of all the words you could’ve used, why would you use annihilated? You could just say kill, murder, assassinate, hell, even execute! but _annihilate_?” Wonwoo was almost yelling now “What kind of freak says that?”

Wonwoo could catch a particular glint in the eyes of the kid before his own chuckles deceased, and by the time he recovered from his laughter the other one was frowning, he was frowning at Wonwoo.

“My hand is dirty” said the fellow guy and attempted to clean his hand on Wonwoo’s jacket but he backed away quickly.

“Well, that’s your problem”

“But it’s your blood”

“Last time I checked you were the one who _annihilated_ it”

The boy scraped off the mosquito in the edge of the sidewalk and they fell into a comfortable silence, none of them looking at each other.

“I’m Mingyu by the way”

“I know”

Confused, the kid stared at Wonwoo expecting an answer and he just pointed at the name tag the other was wearing.

“Oh…”

There was another pause, but this time Mingyu wasn’t the one who broke it.

“I’m Wonwoo” he rested his head on the top of his knees, his right cheek pressing against his bone looking at the other boy’s direction “nice to meet you, Mingyu”

A faint, almost shy, smile raised on Mingyu’s lips.

“Hi there Wonwoo”

The wind blew, no one was talking, the garbage bags were long forgotten and Wonwoo could start to feel his skin itching from the mosquito bites. Tonight was definitely odd, one minute he was with his friends pretending to smile and the next one he was sitting comfortably next to a completely stranger. He had to admit it, it was kinda magical how he could actually cool down with the little help of this boy sitting next to him. Funny how the world works sometimes. With his thoughts wandering and the hot weather he found himself craving a soft serve ice cream.

“Are you okay now?”

Dumbfounded Wonwoo blinked surprised at Mingyu.

“You were kinda gloomy when I first came”

Mingyu stared at Wonwoo, a deep unfamiliar stare.

“Ah, that… don’t worry, I was just having a bit of a mental break down, but I’m fine now”

Mingyu looked up the sky.

“That’s good”

Wownoo wasn’t sure what pulled him to do so, but he figured out the situation was already peculiar enough so this couldn’t cause any more harm. With a loud sigh he stretched his arms and glanced at Mingyu who turned his head curiously at him.

“I like one of my friends” Wonwoo said “But he just recently started to date someone else, two weeks ago I thought he liked me back”

Mingyu’s face fell, he was looking like he had just been told the saddest story in the world. Wonwoo found absurd how he looked so concerned about the love life of a guy he just met but nevertheless he continue talking.

“I came to hang out with my friends and naturally he showed up with his boyfriend” Wonwoo was now looking at Mingyu’s shoes, they were a bit worn out but nothing too severe “it’s the first time I see him and his boyfriend’s together, as a couple”

Mingyu didn’t say anything, he just stayed there, listening “I think I’m not even that sad at the fact that we didn’t end up together but I’m more upset because I can’t even get mad at him cause I didn’t do anything about my feelings, like literally, none of my friends knew I liked him for almost a year” he chuckled bitterly.

The words kept spilling out of his mouth like water, ‘this is what I get for keeping all to myself’, he thought feeling embarrassed ‘I would’ve already left if an stranger keep pouring his feeling at me like this’ but then, when he saw Mingyu, he could sense the sincerity in his eyes, and it made him somehow feel reassurance.

“I can’t even bring myself to hate his boyfriend”

“Why?” Mingyu spoke in a barely audible tone, looking timid, as if he wasn’t supposed to be a part of the monologue, but Wonwoo didn’t actually mind his presence at all.

“I just… can’t”

They stayed quiet for a bit before Mingyu looked at Wonwoo opening his lips like he had just thought of something.

“Isn’t it kinda like…”

“The sorrows of young Werther?” asked Wonwoo tilting his head.

“The ending song of Tatami Galaxy” Mingyu said convinced.

Well, Wonwoo surely wasn’t expecting that.

“Excuse me?” He asked in awe.

“You know, the anime” Mingyu was staring at him nonchalantly as if this Tatami Galaxy thing was a reference everyone should know. Mingyu, probably realizing how lost Wonwoo was, started to sing softly and with a pause at each syllable.

“Ten.go.ku i.ku ta.me mai.ni.chi ko.so.tto”

Wonwoo was starting to feel secondhand embarrassment.

“I have no idea of what you’re talking about…”

Mingyu looked taken aback before he quickly palmed the pockets of his jeans looking for something.

“Okay, just…” he unlocked his phone “…let me look for a translated version” he said distracted while typing on his phone.

Mingyu shifted his body closer to Wonwoo to show him the screen of his phone. Wonwoo would normally have frowned at the close proximity but for some reason he didn’t really mind it.

“Here” Mingyu shoved his phone onto Wonwoo’s face, the light leaving him nearly blind, he made sure to glare at him before taking the phone and read out of obligation.

 _Every day I've been secretly doing good deeds_  
_So that I will eventually go to heaven_

‘Yeah, okay, I’m a nice guy after all’ Wonwoo thought while scanning the lyrics.

 

 _But right now, my tears are falling_  
_And my head is spinning_

 _That girl is a veteran love thief_  
_While I'm just a nice and likable girl_  
_My love is unfulfilled_  
_Why is it so, God?_

‘Hold one, first of all, both of us are dudes, and for second I never cry’ annoyed he scrolled down, greedy to finish the reading for good, and only skimmed the last verse.

 _I asked myself in the mirror_  
_I'm a nice and likable girl_  
_While she is a devil and a love thief_  
_Hell is waiting for her_

He didn’t know what to think. Slowly he blocked the phone and gave it back to it’s owner, then he placed his hands on his lap and with a breath and a concerned look he faced Mingyu.

“Why in the world would you think this song remotely represent me? Honestly I feel kinda offended”

The other, mortified, rushed to unlock his phone.

“Wait, maybe if you listen to the song you will understand” He said while linking his earphones to the phone and offering one to Wonwoo. He naturally rejected it, but he couldn’t help but find a tiny bit cute how the the other was so desperately trying to make a point.

Mingyu sulked and Wonwoo smiled.

“The lyrics express how a nice girl, in this case you, forgives the nasty woman who stole her love in order to go to heaven”

Wonwoo had a wide smile impressed on his face.

“I’m sorry to break it to you but I actually can’t bring myself to hate him not because I wanna go to heaven but because he is a nice kid” Mingyu was looking embarrassed “and… if anyone were to go to to hell, that surely would be me”

Mingyu stayed still for a second.

“I’m sure you low-key hate him, he sounds like a bitch and you probably liked the guy first”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t hate him” Wonwoo said convinced, he didn’t quite hated him, that was for sure, thought he couldn’t assure he liked him either.

“Well, if that's the case and you like his so much I’m pretty sure you can happily date both of them in a healthy polyamorous relationship”

Wonwoo let out a cackled and then he snorted.

“You really are something Mingyu, and you clearly don't know me”

Mingyu stared blankly at him before the way he was looking at him changed to a darker one.

“Maybe I want to…” he said in a horse barely-audible voice.

Wonwoo froze, he couldn’t tell if Mingyu was for some reason hitting on him, or if he was joking, perhaps he actually meant what he said. Mingyu’s stare started to pierce on him, he was sitting a little too close and Wonwoo became conscious of just how tall the other was. Until this moment he hadn’t even taken an actual look at Mingyu’s appearance, his looks were definitely above the average, he begun to feel his blood rushing to his face and he cursed under his breath.

“Mingyu are you done?”

An unknown voice called from behind, breaking whatever tension there was between them.

“Oh? Who’s your friend and why haven’t you throw the garbage away? I thought you had to leave quickly?”

The stranger started to walk towards them and Mingyu turned his head rapidly, a red color blooming in his ears.

“Seungkwan? What are you doing here” his previous look vanished and he was now looking like a lost embarrassed kid.

The unknown boy was wearing the same uniform as Mingyu and when he spotted how close both of them were he grinned for a half of a second to then turn into a nonchalantly expression again.

“You were taking so long Jeonghan got worried and sent me to check on you…did I interrupt something? Should I go?” The boy questioned innocently pointing at the door he had emerged from. Mingyu pleaded with his eyes and nodded, the boy smirked at Wonwoo and then his stare went back to Mingyu pointing with his index finger at the bags and then at the trashcan, he glanced at Wonwoo one last time, and sent Mingyu an approbatory look.

“He’s cute, I’ll give you that” the guy left leaving them both astonished.

“I should probably get going…” Mingyu got up and grabbed the bags, Wonwoo followed his steps and also stood up.

“Yeah, me too…” he moved away finally letting the other finish his task, Mingyu smiled at him almost tenderly.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Wonwoo” He said in the most captivating tone.

Dumbfounded Wonwoo laid his eyes on Mingyu’s dark ones and they stayed like that for a few seconds. Mingyu was looking as if he was expecting something from the other and Wonwoo not knowing what to give him just stood there awkwardly. At the end it seemed like Mingyu had given up and before Wonwoo could even ask him anything the boy was already gone.

Only when he was left all alone, in the middle of the night with the only the company of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, he thought of a comeback, actually he thought of a million things he could’ve said, but one of them stood up the most. Anyhow, none of them had any use now, Mingyu had already left and the possibilities of meeting him again were little, and even if he did, this mysterious yet magical encounter wouldn’t repeat. What a shame, Wonwnoo thought before going back to his friends.

 

 

 

At least half an hour passed since he was gone but Wonwoo wasn’t surprised none of his friends called to ask him where in hell he was when the first thing he saw as he absentmindedly took a seat was a very concerned Soonyoung patting the back of a very sick looking Seokmin throwing up in a bucket hat, probably Soonyoung’s. Junhui had disappeared, apparently looking for help, Jihoon was indifferently texting someone, and Minghao was offering a bottle of water to Seokmin. He turned his head to whoever was sitting beside him with the intention to ask what in the world was happening, but instead of finding out an answer he found himself astonished.

He later found out that somehow Soonyoung had hit Seokmin on the stomach with a bowling ball, but at that very moment the only thing he could see was the person sitting beside him. With as much disbelief as Wonwoo himself, Mingyu was once again next to him and there was a strange aura surrounding them, he started to feel some kind of pressure, like he had to explain himself, and then a thought crossed his mind, the comeback he earlier thought of escaped from his nervous lips like it was eager to land on the other’s ears.

“Thank you for annihilating my sorrow“ he said without thinking.The room fell silent, everyone’s eyes, including Junhui’s and the employee’s he had just arrived with (who was carrying a mop and a bucket full of water and who also happened to be the same guy who interrupted them back in the parking lot), were on Wonwoo and on a very surprised Mingyu.

Soonyoung, taken aback by the scene he had just witnessed, dropped the hat on the floor dirtying it with Seokmin’s nasty vomit. An ‘oops’ could be heard from not to far away and something along the lines ‘am I supposed to clean that?’ also made its way to Wonwoo, however, as everyone was starting to continue with whatever activity they were doing, Wonwoo couldn’t turn away from the tall boy placed before him. Not even the sign of Junhui’s hand interlocking fingers with Minghao could distract him at the moment. Mingyu laughed, and covered his mouth with his hand.

“Of all the words you could’ve used, why would you use annihilated?” Mingyu smiled brightly at him and well, damn, this was bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed this little catastrophic meanie thing I wrote, it's kinda like a pilot i guess so let me know what do you think and if you would actually want me to publish the next chapter, since its my first fic I will be always grateful to you whom just read this, have a nice day :)


	2. Let's start as friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forgetting things can lead to unexpected encounters......
> 
>  
> 
> “There’s a convenience store, just around the corned” He pointed to said place with his long and slightly chubby index finger and not even bothering on getting an answer from Wonwoo he took his right hand firmly “Let’s run okay?”

Saying Mingyu was simply surprised to see Wonwoo again would be a lie because he was completely and utterly perplexed by the whole situation. At first it was shock, after all he thought he has lost his only opportunity to keep in contact with him after failing to ask his number, e-mail or really anything, he was sure he wouldn’t see him again yet they were both sitting next to each other sharing the same group of friends, a table and even some fries, it was crazy. A little smile appeared on his face at the sight of Wonwoo and he unconsciously bit his bottom lip trying to suppress it not wanting to be too obvious at his excitement. When he was done processing everything that was happening he couldn’t help but believe this was fate. Delighted by his own thoughts he proceed to look for Wonwoo’s eyes to find some kind of complicity but little by little he realized that the look in the other boy was the complete opposite of was he was feeling. He could see fear, confusion and embarrassment in his expression and just as quick as his excitement had arrived the reality of the situation punched him. Wonwoo had just poured all his feelings onto Mingyu thinking he was an absolutely stranger, and now said boy was in the middle of a reunion with his friends, knowing by detail some really sensitive information about him. He wished he could be close enough to him to assure him he wouldn’t say anything or even judge him at all but with everyone around them all he could do was to stay still quietly glancing at him every now and then and catching the discomfort that filled the other’s eyes every time he looked directly at him. It was then that he wished he could’ve stayed as a mere stranger he met at the parking lot.

Later, when Seungkwan and Jeonghan cleaned the disaster Seokmin and Soonyoung created, they were left alone to finally play. An apologetic and guilty Soonyoung kept saying it was all his fault ‘because I was the one who hit Seokmin and dropped the vomit’, and even if Mingyu thought it was kinda true, everyone assured him that ‘it was okay and that accidents happen’.

As an outsider you could think things were going smoothly and, indeed, they were, or at least that was what Mingyu thought until he noticed something was off. It wasn’t that he keep looking at Wonwoo all night, his eyes somehow landed on him, because really, how could he not look at him? Wonwoo was a quiet guy, or maybe he was just quiet that night, he couldn’t tell, he had this blank face most of the time and Mingyu expected him to keep it the whole night but then Wonwoo’s expression changed each time Jun directed his attention to him, the change was barely visible but Mingyu noticed the way his pupils wavered and how his fingers automatically looked for something to play with. Not to long after the game was starting Wonwoo was gone, it wasn’t until then that he grasped the situation.

 

 

“So…how do you know him?”

Mingyu and Minghao were on their way to the bus stop, a light rain caught them as they were walking and none of them remembered to bring an umbrella, even so they were walking slowly.

“Wonwoo?” Mingyu asked distracted not even trying to play dumb but Minghao still rolled his eyes.

“Who else could I be talking about?” his friend said ironically as he caressed his own brown hair trying to dry it from the humidity.

“I just met his by coincidence before my shift was over, he wasn’t feeling well I think, and we chatted a bit, nothing more”

He was trying to sound as casual as possible, not wanting to reveal too much information or making it seem as if he was too interested in Wonwoo but of course Minghao didn’t believed in his act.

“Really?” he said opening his eyes exaggeratedly “Well, I guess you did a pretty good job at annihilating his sorrow then…”

Mingyu opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“It’s not like that”

“Then what is it like?”

“We just chatted for a bit but we didn’t know we would actually see each other again, that’s it, we were both surprised”

“Sure, I can tell that... judging by the way you were hopelessly looking at him the whole time trying to catch his attention”

This time Mingyu’s face was completely red, the last thing he wanted was to make it seem as if he was interested in that way, he was just a bit curious about Wonwoo and maybe he found him kinda cute (but he was sure everyone thought so too), also he might actually expected him to approach him again or -

“Was it that obvious?” He asked flustered by his own thoughts.

“You’re not as subtle as you think you are” Minghao smiled “But you know, I’m actually kinda jealous of you” he concluded frowning.

Mingyu blinked confused as he zipped up his gray hoodie.

“You tend to attract people, like, everyone likes you so easily” Minghao scowled as if he was thinking of the correct words to express himself “I met him before you, I try to be as nice as possible but he still ignores me and you chatted with him for only a few minutes and he already likes you” he sighed “It makes me think he hates me”

“He likes me?”

Minghao couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s response and realizing what he had just asked Mingyu coughed.

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you” he found himself answering confidently, after all Wonwoo himself assured him before.

“I really hope so, he’s one of Junhui’s closest friends, I don’t wanna get in his bad side” he said with a disappointed look on his face and Mingyu didn’t wish for anything but his best friend's happiness.

“I’m sure he will warm up to you soon” he placed his hand on his friend’s shoulders and squeezed him affectionately, offering him a sincere smile that the other returned naturally.

The bus arrived and when they were both comfortably seated at the very back of it the rain started to pour more heavily. Minghao dozed off and his head plopped on Mingyu’s arm as he was watching the drops of water pass the window.

 

 

 

Waking up at you phone ringing madly at the same time as someone knocks your door furiously isn’t the best way to wake up. Still sleepy he extended an arm looking recklessly for his phone over the bedside table and not even bothering on checking the contact he answered sleepily.

“Kwang Soonyoung, leave the hell out of me alone”

“I brought breakfast”

As much as Wonwoo hated his sleep being disturbed a free meal was something he couldn’t resist. He got up with his hair all disheveled and opened the door.

“You didn’t have to knock there's a ring for a reason you know?”

Soonyoung ignored him already making his way into the kitchen table, Wonwoo trailed him from behind wanting to look through the bags, he took out some containers with food and other ones with side dishes.

“You have rice right? I didn’t bring any”

“Rice? I’m pretty sure I have some left on the fridge” Wonwoo put on the table two bowls and both of them started to eat.

“Summer break is almost over” Soonyoung said casually putting some meat on Wonwoo’s bowl “You finished all your assignments the first week didn’t you?” He asked suspiciously.

“Yeah, why?” He asked carefully while drinking water.

Soonyoung face changed to a pleading look and Wonwoo knew the reason behind his friend’s act of kindness was whatever he was about to ask.

“I haven’t done anything the last two weeks and I have to finish two essays by the end of the weekend” Wonwoo wasn’t sure where this conversation was leading to.

“I got too caught up in the studio practices I totally forgot I still haven’t returned Jun a book he lended me, and I promised I would give it to him before the summer break cause apparently he needs it”

“Why didn’t you bring it yesterday at the bowls?”

“Didn’t you pay attention? I totally forgot!”

Wonwoo stopped eating now concentrating all his attention on Soonyoung.

“Fair enough, now tell me what do you want”

“Can you please give it to him today?”

“Dude, I didn’t finish my assignments early to be your personal assistant, you should have gone to his house and returned it instead of coming here”

“Actually I went earlier but no one answered so I came here instead and when I was already at your door he answered my text telling me he was at Minghao’s but now I have lost so much time I cannot make it to his house and then to mine without wasting my precious time”

“Does he needs it that much? Why don’t you tell him you’ll give it back next week?”

The other shook his head.

“I can’t, I already promised I’ll return it today”

“Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know! I felt so ashamed I just did!”

“Ashamed of what?” Wonwoo couldn't help but find his friend hopeless.

“Of not returning the book for over a year and a half”

They both fell into silence, he should have known better, Soonyoung was imposible.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I wish I was” he sighed and took a big spoon of food into his mouth.

“Well, it’s your fault so you fix it” Wonwoo started eating again.

“Please?”

“Why me?“

“Cause you love me?” Wonwoo rolled his eyes and then gave his friend a blank face.

“I bought you food and” Soonyoung’s eyes turned dark “I haven’t brought up what happened last night” he continued eating.

Wonwoo froze, whatever happened last night was something he didn’t exactly want to remember and Soonyoung knew it, he was blackmailing him.

“Where do I have to go again?” He said standing up and washing his bowl not wanting to make any visual contact with the other.

“At Minghao’s apartment”

“What?” Wonwoo was confused.

“I told you Jun is there, I promise you just have to give it back and that’s it! It won't take more than five minutes”

“Fine”

What else could he lose?

 

 

 

It was a sunny Sunday, the sun was bright and the Baskin Robbins near the bus station was full of students, families with kids and all types of people, however you could see a big storm was approaching by the way the gray clouds were merging together in the sky. Everyone was carrying an umbrella and Wonwoo was no exception. As he made his way to the bus station he could smell the faint smell of humidity in the air, his face and neck were a little bit sticky as a result from walking under the sun along with the moist air of the weather. When the bus arrived he sat up next to the window and he took off his black denim jacket. He looked through the window slowly realizing that the summer break was over and it really was a shame he hadn’t done any of the things he wanted to do. Putting on his earphones and sighing he waited for his stop.

 

 

 

 

It turned out that the building in which Minghao lived was closer to Wonwoo’s house that he had originally expected. It was nearly one in the afternoon when he was standing outside the white door of the apartment #507, carrying a foldable umbrella and his jacket with the left arm and a book with the title of Shunjing by Confusio with his right hand. He ringed the doorbell and suddenly he wished Minghao’s house was farther away that the fifteen minutes he made by bus, half an hour would had been good enough to mentally prepare for this situation. He heard some footsteps getting closer by the door and all of a sudden he felt self conscious of his appearance, wasn’t he too sweaty? damn, he should have taken the elevator instead of the stairs, did he smelled? Was his sweater even clean? He couldn’t remember. The metal-against- metal sound of the latch being unlocked made him even more nervous and in a few more seconds the door was open. Half an hour wouldn’t have been enough to prepare himself for what happened next, probably not even five hours would have been enough. The tall man was standing under the door frame, a hand still on the door knob, he was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt, his expression was bewildered and his dark hair was falling gently over his forehead. Wonwoo froze.

“Mingyu? What are you doing here?” He was having a difficult time understanding what was happening, he was perplexed and confused, he wasn’t worrying about his looks anymore instead he was fully focusing on the man before him.

“I live here…”

Dumbfounded he let out an ‘oh’ and he lowered his eyes ashamed. Quickly Mingyu moved away from the door.

“I’m sorry, please, come in”

Feeling like dying out of embarrassment he walked inside the apartment muttering a small ‘thank you’ directed to the other but cautious of not making eye contact. Mingyu closed the door behind them and as soon as they were inside, Wonwoo took a glance at the place, it was spacious, or at least the lack of furniture made it look that way, there were a few plants near a large window next to what it seemed to be the living room and there was no couch, just a bean bag and a few pillows in front of a coffee table which had a plugged laptop over it and a blue cup of some kind of unknown beverage. The kitchen was a small section separated from the living room by the countertop and Wonwoo was surprised by how clean it actually was. He could also see a short hall that leaded to other doors, probably the bedrooms and the bathroom. It was a typical apartment.

“Do you want something to drink? I can only offer you water or tea but I can always go to the store if you want something else”

Mingyu was opening the fridge as he talked and just then Wonwoo realized that they were both alone, swallowing his concern he looked at Mingyu’s way, his eyes locking with the other boy’s deep brown eyes. Flustered by the unexpected eye contact Wonwoo focused on Mingyu’s hand and the green small can he was now holding between his long fingers.

“I found a soft drink” he said breaking the silence “It’s grape flavored, if you want it it’s yours”

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t stay for too long, umm… is Junhui or Minghao here by any chance?”

Mingyu’s eyes hesitated and he froze for a second. Slowly closing the fridge’s door he stayed still.

“Umm… I think they fell asleep in Minghao’s room, do you uhh.. want me to wake them up?” Mingyu pointed insecurely at the hallway.

“Please don’t” Wonwoo spoke nervously “Can you just give this to Junhui when he wakes up?”

He put aside his jacket and umbrella, leaving them on the surface of the little table and handed the book with both of his hands to Mingyu, who made a surprised face, it looked like he was going to say something but before opening his mouth he regretted. Instead he smiled still looking the the object.

“Sure thing, I’ll make sure to hand it to them” He took the book examining the front and the back of it before offering a small and soft smile to Wonwoo.

“Thanks”

“My pleasure”

Mingyu put the book beside the laptop accidentally pushing the blue cup with is arm and almost spilling its liquid all over the table. Taking the cup with his left hand and chuckling he walked to the kitchen and after throwing away a wet tea bag inside the trash he drank all the remaining tea in one gulp making a grimace at the end. ‘So it was tea’ Wonwoo thought still watching the other’s actions.

Probably sensing Wonwoo’s stare, Mingyu turned around and caught him still looking at him. With a barely visible smirk he rested his elbows on the kitchen countertop, his hands holding both of his cheeks, and started to look closely at Wonwoo.

“Why are you staring at me?” Mingyu asked curiously.

“Am I not allowed?” Wonwoo raised his eyebrows “Besides I wasn’t really looking at you, I was just surprised by how you swallowed that drink in one go” He said defensibly but Mingyu just let out a lighthearted laugh.

“You totally were but whatever floats your boat I guess” He spoke in an accusatory tone “It’s kinda creepy tho”

Until now Wonwoo hadn’t really noticed how annoying Mingyu could be, he scoffed amused but not having a better comeback he ended up giving up.

“Whatever”

Mingyu laughed again, ‘he always laughs’, Wonwoo thought, he looked like the type of person that could light up a whole room with a single smile, and he wondered how could someone like that exist, someone so bright. ‘He is almost like- like a dog?’, Wonwoo concluded in his mind before another chuckle caught his attention.

“You’re staring again” Mingyu said, this time in a tone that Wonwoo found very soothing.

“Oh, right, sorry” Wonwoo blinked a bit confused.

“It’s okay”

Wonwoo pulled the long sleeves of his sweater down over his hands not knowing what to do with the strange atmosphere surrounding them. For some reason none of them moved or muttered another word, almost as a silent agreement to not having any excuses left to keep each other’s company but still wanting to spend some time together. The sweep hand of some clock Wonwoo hadn’t noticed until now kept on ticking in a calming way, it was the only sound that could be heard, and maybe because the room was so silent, the gently beat of his own heart started to feel loud and clear against his skin, it was a reassuring sensation. However, in the midst of their reverie, a loud thunder broke the unusual mood, forcing them to wake up from it.

“I should probably get going, I don’t wanna get caught in the rain”

“Right”

Hurriedly Mingyu walked next to him handing him the black jacket, Wonwoo took it and really, really slowly, both of them proceed to walk to the door.

“It was nice seeing you again” Mingyu said quietly as the other stepped out of the door “I’ll tell Junhui you were here” Wonwoo offered a polite smiled in return.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink?” Mingyu asked in a timid voice just as Wonwoo was turning around. He smiled and the glimpse of Mingyu’s somehow defeated face he felt bad for the poor boy so he turned to face him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine” Wonwoo said and putting a hand over Mingyu’s shoulder’s “See you around, Mingyu”

The other’s face brighten up at his comment “Great” he scratched the back of his ear “See you around, Wonwoo”

Wonwoo moved his hand away from Mingyu, leaving a warm sensation on his fingers. He smiled one last time and Mingyu waved at him and he walked down the hallway.

 

 

 

All the bright light that had been provided by the sun just a few hours ago was now gone as big gray clouds moved in the sky covering it. No one was surprised when a soft rain started to pour, they all saw it coming. On the sidewalk people started to walk faster or to open their umbrellas and on the road, almost automatically, the cars turned on their windscreen wipers.

‘The rain isn’t so bad’, Wonwoo kept telling himself as people passed past him, and even when several drops of rain hit his face he shrugged it off, there was nothing he could do, the faster you walk the wetter you’ll get, he remembered his physics teacher saying.

Little by little the rain started to get worse and it started to leave pools of water on the road, nevertheless he kept his slow pace. The whole situation was plainly ridiculous, ‘This is all Soonyoung’s fault, if get sick the first week of classes…’ he thought as he walked in the middle of the street with his damp hair, remembering his high school physics classes not because he came unprepared for this situation, but because he left his umbrella at Mingyu’s coffee table.

Just as he was about to cross the street a tall figure came running to him, with the help of his hand he covered his eyes from the rain in an attempt see whom it was and somehow he wasn’t surprised when a breathless Mingyu started to wave at him with his umbrella in hand.

“Wonwoo!” he screamed decreasing his speed as he was getting closer and when he finally was in front of him he rested his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. It hadn’t even been more than ten seconds since the other had arrived but, in Wonwoo’s opinion, he was taking a little too long recovering his breath, so before Mingyu could even speak he took him by the wrist, not in an brusque way but rather calmly, walking quickly to the nearest store to shelter under its canopy. Once they were safe from the rain Wonwoo freed Mingyu’s arm and waited for him to continue talking not aware of the other boy’s shy look.

“So… you forgot this “ Mingyu showed the foldable navy blue umbrella and while he was doing that Wonwoo took the opportunity to examine the other boy, his hair was damp, worse than Wonwoo’s, and his white t-shirt was also wet to the point it was clinging to his skin, he wasn’t wearing a sweater or anything to protect himself from the cold and it looked like he had rushed out of the apartment.

“Yeah, thank you Mingyu, you shouldn’t have bothered”

“But it started raining and you were gonna get all wet”

“Well, if you were planning on bringing my umbrella back to me you should have brought one for you”

“But I was in a rush, I really thought I was gonna lose your sight!”

“Fair enough, then why didn’t you used mine to cover yourself?”

“Oh, you have a point” Mingyu looked defeated.

“Don’t get me wrong! I really am grateful, I mean it, it’s just…” Mingyu was waiting with his big eyes.

“You got all soaked because of me, and I feel bad”

“You feel responsible for me?”

“Kinda”

Mingyu paused for half a second and his expression was indescribable but rapidly returned to his usual bright self.

“If you feel so bad you can treat me an ice cream”

Wonwoo glared at him but Mingyu didn’t even bat an eyelid, keeping a poker face before breaking into an incredible endearing smile, showing his two pointy canines in all its glory.

“There’s a convenience store, just around the corned” He pointed to said place with his long and slightly chubby index finger and not even bothering on getting an answer from Wonwoo he took his right hand firmly “Let’s run okay?”

All of Wonwoo’s work on trying to get the less wet possible was a waste of time cause now he was soaked from head to toes. His white sneakers were dripping wet, his jeans, splashed by the puddles of water, were uncomfortable humid and his shoulders and hair were completely drenched by the rain. He wanted to shout at Mingyu but looking at the other beaming like a child he decided that he didn’t mind his condition that much (also the fact that Mingyu was pretty much in the same state as him).

The welcome sensor that indicates the entry of people sounded the moment they stepped into the black rubber mat of the store, the employee gave them a stare, probably thinking that she would have to clean the mess on the floor but quickly soften the look on her face offering a small bow that the boys politely returned.

By the time Mingyu was in front of the freezer already choosing an ice cream, he had long ago released Wonwoo’s hand, leaving in the spot he touched a warm feeling Wonwoo couldn’t shake off and in an attempt of distracting himself from the foreign sensation he wandered around the corridors not really paying attention to the way Mingy’s gaze followed him. He ended up in the coolers section, examining the diverse products and taking a banana flavored milk. He was checking the expiration date, it was something he always half jokingly did in hopes of finding an expired product, demand the franchise and get rich, when he turned his head surprised to find Mingyu right beside him grabbing two soft-serve vanilla ice creams of a generic brand.

“Are you gonna eat two of them?”

“No” Mingyu looked genuinely confused “one is for you”

Taken aback by the answer Wonwoo instinctively took the two ice cream cones from the boy’s hands and another banana milk before going to the counter to pay, Mingyu following him like a shadow. He reached for his wallet and extended a card to the employee.

“Is that a credit card? Are you rich?” Mingyu popped from behind his back, clinging into his shoulders, Wonwoo rolled his eyes, not bothering on replying at all.

“Don’t ignore me, I brought you an ice cream!” Mingyu whined pointing to said thing.

“Yeah but I’m the one paying for it” Wonwoo answered glaring him “ so just keep quiet alright?”

“But it was my idea” Mingyu pointed out one last time before looking defeated with a little frown and a pout on his face.

The cashier was visibly trying not to laugh at the conversation taking place in front of her but Wonwoo noticed anyway and instantly his face hated up in embarrassment. After finishing paying and thanking they left the store, the rain was gone replaced by the radiant light of the afternoon, the clouds had left a gap in the sky allowing the sun to shine throw them directly into the pools of water on the grown making them reflect the light. Wonwoo, who was carrying the plastic bag with the snacks, took his milk and his ice cream to then shove the bag to Mingyu, who inspected it and looked amazed at him.

“Is this also for me?” He asked taking the banana milk out of the plastic bag.

“Well, it surely is not for me, I already have one” he showed the milk container and then inserted a straw in the lid of his drink.

“Thank you”

“Thanks for the ice cream” Wonwoo commented and Mingyu smiled at him as he reached for his ice cream.

They sat on a small green plastic table outside the store, Wonwoo, yearning the warmth of the sun, located himself under the sunbeam, on the contrary, Mingyu, trying to avoid the sun, moved his chair to the shade.

“Why are you moving away?”

“I don’t like the sun” He simply answered.

 

Wonwoo reached for the boy’s arm tugging him to move next to him, right under the sunlight.

“C’mon, we’re both all wet and the sun it’s gonna dry our clothes”

“Please, Wonwoo, I don’t wanna” Mingyu pleaded but Wonwoo continued pulling him by the arm.

“I don't care, now listen to me and hurry up, your ice cream is melting” Mingyu opened his mouth but Wonwoo interrupted him “Don’t make me pull on the I’m-older card” He said in a jokingly treating voice but at the end it worked and Mingyu hesitated but quietly moved his chair next to Wonwoo who offered him a sincere smile. The truth is Wonwoo wanted to assure him there was nothing he should be ashamed for, why should he be? but he didn’t have the right words so they just sat next to each other for a while before Mingyu turned his head to look at Wonwoo.

“How do you know I’m younger? you never asked me”

Indeed Mingyu was younger and Wonwoo knew that because he sent Jihoon a message asking for Minghao’s friends age (for future references he said), but of course Mingyu didn’t know that, it was already embarrassing enough the sole fact that he knew the other’s age without having asked personally and god knows what would Mingyu think if he discovered Wonwoo’s minimum amount of interest in him, so instead of answering he played dumb and completely ignored the question and just when he thought he could get away without answering an incredibly annoyingly mocking tone spoke.

“Where you that interested in me that you had to ask someone else for my age?”

Mingyu was smirking and Wonwoo wanted to snap at him but a voice inside his head prevented him and instead he put on an innocent facade taking aback Mingyu.

“Aren’t you younger then?”

“I mean yeah but I didn’t think you’d know”

Blinking a few times Mingyu’s smirk disappeared and Wonwoo knew now was time to turn the tables on, so with a triumphant smile he finished his drink before speaking again.

“Humm… and how would you know that? Where you perhaps that interested in me that you had to ask someone else for my age?”

Mingyu laughed and then shrugged.

“I mean, you’re Jun’s friend so I guessed you were the same age, I asked Minghao later for confirmation” he said unbothered to which Wonwoo couldn’t answer back with more than a ‘oh’ in part because he wanted to finish his milk and in part because he was left speechless with Mingyu’s sincerity and was somehow embarrassed at himself for feeling flattered and a little bit content by the fact that Mingyu liked him enough to want to know more about him.

They continued eating in silence until Wonwoo noticed the sticky sensation of his wet socks at the contact with his sneakers.

“It’s all your fault” he stated out of nowhere.

“What do you mean?” Mingyu raised an eyebrow.

“If we hadn’t ran all the way here we wouldn’t be all soaked”

“I ran so that we wouldn’t get even more wet!” Mingyu said in an offended tone but Wonwoo didn’t pay him attention, his whole concentration was focused in the unpleasant feeling of wet socks.

“If you run in the middle of the rain it is as if you’re trying to catch all the drops that are falling” Wonwoo opened the lid of his ice cream “Never had physics?”

“I did but I don’t remember that” Mingyu (that by now had finished his ice cream) shoved his straw on the lid of his milk

“Learned it in high school” Wonwoo pointed out licking the end of his ice cream desperately as it melted, Mingyu never taking his eyes off him.

“For someone who decided to first drink his banana milk leaving his ice cream melting you sure learned physics…”

Wonwoo glared at the younger but the image of him frowning while still sucking on the edges of his ice cream (trying to save it from dying) must have been ridiculous because it only made Mingyu burst out in a contagious laughter at which Wonwoo soon ended up joining.

After both of them were done eating Wonwoo exhaled looking at the sky and noticing how drops of water were falling from the edge of the three’s leaves, he was feeling warm under the sunbeam, after all it hadn’t been such an awful thing to spend his last summer break Sunday outside. Just then a car that passed by a little too fast blinded Wonwoo’s view momentary with it’s bright headlights forcing him to squint his eyes.

“Darn! ughh stupid car” He said rubbing his eyes.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, but I hope that person arrives late to whatever place he or she was going to so hurriedly” He was now frowning looking at the road with resentful eyes.

“Oh you’re so threatening“ Mingyu said in a mocking way pissing Wonwoo off but the later just shrugged.

“I’m not wishing anyone’s death alright? Don’t wanna carry the guilt of it”

“But what if that person was actually so rushed cause they were tryna get to the hospital?” Mingyu was pronouncing every word that left his mouth with excessive hands gestures “And if they get there too late they can actually die? So technically you might be wishing their deaths you know?” He finished with a matter of factly tone, as if he was sure Wonwoo was actually the responsibly of someones hypothetical death. He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“Oh, shush your mouth will you? No one is actually dying, and if for some unknown reason some drivers die in their way to the hospital I’m ninety-nine percent sure is some other irresponsible driver’s fault if not their own” he stopped for a minute “actually, now that I think about it I don’t know a single driver that is not a bad driver, even my mom was crazy when she was in front of the steering wheel”

“I’m not a bad driver thought?” Mingyu interrupted.

“You drive?” Wonwoo raised his eyebrows and Mingyu nodded “…wow I guess nowadays anyone can own a license”

Mingyu opened his mouth offended and Wonwoo internally laughed amazed at how easy it was to annoy the other.

“What’s your excuse then? do you even drive?” He actually sounded upset and it was hilarious, or at least that what Wonwoo thought.

“I’m gay” he said unbothered causing Mingyu to snort.

“So that’s a no?”

“I rather walking or taking public transport anyways” Wonwoo concluded.

“Yeah sure, I see that you clearly do not drive”

“What can I do? I already told you, I’m gay”

“Oh please I am too but I drive”

“Oh! I didn't know that” Wonwoo said (pleasantly) surprised.

“I literally just told you that I drive” Mingyu was obviously playing dumb but Wonwoo spoke in a soft voice pushing lightly the younger’s arm.

“You know what I meant” Mingyu had a faint smile on his face as Wonwoo spoke and no one said anything for a while but then, as Mingyu absentmindedly picked up a piece of paper and unfolded it trying to straighten it into its original form, he spoke again.

“I think you failed the driving test and you’re just salty”

Wonwoo knew Mingyu was playing dumb and only continued the teasing most probably in order to avoid any kind of awkwardness or the seriousness in the topic, maybe he didn’t wanted to talk about it, so he decided that it was the best to play along.

“Hey! I’m contributing to achieve a good environmental status so be thankful” He said laughing as he threw him a ball of the crumbled envelope paper of the ice cream packaging.  
“Besides, I couldn’t have failed if I never actually tried” Wonwoo simply pointed out not expecting to cause any sort of reaction from the other but as he watched the way Mingyu threw back his head and cackled loudly, he felt some kind of accomplishment.

“You’re so fun to hang out with” There was a glint in the eyes of Mingyu as placed his hand on top of Wonwoo’s shoulder moving closer to him and scanning the table as if he was looking for something, the sudden proximity making it difficult to process what the other was doing.

“Uh-h”

“Lend me your phone” Mingyu murmured extending his palm.

“What for?” Wonwoo asked as taking out said device from his jean’s pocket.

“Is it that difficult to imagine? Just give it to me” he hurried the other moving his hands impatiently as Wonwoo unlocked it and when Mingyu finally had the phone he started to type something on it.

“Here, I saved my number”

Wonwoo saw the other’s number saved under the name ’Kim Mingyu’ and then he saw that Mingyu had taken the liberty of texting himself a smiley face, probably so he could also save Wonwoo’s number in his own phone. He found curious how in spite of Mingyu’s usual childish behavior he saved his own contact with such formality, expecting him to use some kind of emoticon or nickname, it wasn’t that it bothered him though. Wonwoo stretched his arms, the sun was making him feel sleepy and the pleasant smell of humid soil kinda made him want to take a nap.

“Hey Wonwoo, what’s your last name?”

“Uhh?” He answered with a yawn and Mingyu murmured something like ‘you’re like a cat’ but Wonwoo didn’t catch it “my last name? I’m Jeon Wonwoo”

“Oh, that’s a nice last name” Mingyu said as he typed something on his phone’s screen.

“Why do you ask? do you know a lot of Wonwoo’s?” He peeked at the younger’s phone.

“No, actually your the only Wonwoo I know, I just wanted to know your last name”

“Oh, I see” Wonwoo nodded “you could just have asked Minghao or Junhui”

“Yes but I wanted you to personally tell me” then Mingyu got up dusting his jeans off “Now that the rain stopped, I gave you back your umbrella and I even got a free ice cream I should get going”

All of a sudden the sunlight that was warming Wonwoo up was gone and when he looked up to see what was the reason of the it he was taken aback not expecting a smiling Mingyu standing right in front of him and covering the sunlight with his body, so a bit flustered he said the first thing that came to his mind.

“Don’t leave” Mingyu grinned and Wonwoo realized what he had just said so trying to come up with something to cover it up he blurted“… your garbage” but his answer came more like a question and he was aware that Mingyu didn’t believe him.

“Sure” the other had a smug face but after a little while it tensed, he licked his lips before speaking nervously and Wonwoo got worried “This might sound weird but, I really enjoy your company, let’s be friend?”

Wonwoo really wasn’t meaning to, seeing the other concerned face as he was laughing like a maniac made him feel bad but after hearing that sort of question he couldn’t maintain a composed face, Mingyu was so helpless it was way too funny, even cute.

“Are we in elementary school?” Wonwoo breathed in and out trying to calm himself.

“Well, I think you’re cool and funny but I don’t know if we will see each other again anytime soon” Mingyu sat down once again and was now wearing a sad expression, Wonwoo was starting to feel guilty for the kid so he patted his head trying to make him feel better.

“You’re a big child aren’t you Kim Mingyu?” He touched Mingyu’s still slightly wet hair trying to fix it “But yeah, I also do not dislike your presence that much so okay, let's be friends”

“Great” Mingyu stood up abruptly startling Wonwoo who at the sight of the other smiling felt satisfied “Well, I guess I really should leave now” he waved one last time “Bye”

Mingyu left completely forgetting about the plastic bag and leaving Wonwoo all alone. He stayed for a while finishing his ice cream cone and feeding a couple of birds with it, he then stood up and throw the garbage into the bin, but before making his way back home he got inside the convenience store coming out with a bag of chips and feeling content for some reason.

 

 

 

 

 

The sun was already setting when Wonwoo arrived home, the sound of the door locking made a quiet ‘click’ as Wonwoo proceed to take his shoes off. A small ceramic key-bowl his friend Jisoo gave him as a present when he first moved was placed on the top of the shoe cabinet located right at the entrance hall of his apartment and he took out of his pocket his keys throwing them into the bowl. His mind was somewhere else as he dragged himself into the living room and it wasn’t until he was already stepping into the wood floor that he snapped out of his absent-mindedness and realized he was still holding his umbrella, he stared at it for a few seconds and as if it was a password that unlocked a code his thoughts were automatically led to the image of a wet Mingyu under the rain holding said object, he couldn’t believe silly Mingyu hadn’t opened it to avoid getting soak, his face softened for a second before realizing what he was thinking ‘I must be tired’ he thought putting the umbrella against the shoe cabinet and redirecting to his room.

Wonwoo liked living alone, he liked having his own space, he enjoyed his own company and above all he loved silence, so he wondered why all of a sudden the silence of his room caught him out of guard. He had just taken a hot long shower and was feeling cozy under his red pajama striped pants and a back loose t-shirt with the words ‘cats club’ printed in white on the right side of it and he was wearing his glasses resting his eyes from the contact lenses, it was the perfect evening but Wonwoo wasn’t feeling quite alright, it was as if something was missing. Perhaps after having a loud Soonyoung in the morning and a Mingyu full of smiles and laughs in the afternoon he was feeling lonely.

Anyone could tell Wonwoo was an introverted, he wouldn’t like loud places or big crowds and would be more than awkward around new people and that often lead others to portrait him as someone who preferred being left alone finding others rather annoying, which had nothing to do with the reality. Sure, he liked silence and was independent but he enjoyed company, he liked spending time with his friends, before moving to Seoul he was used to always having someone else in his house (it was either his mom, dad, brother or cat), even now that he lived alone he liked having people hanging out at his place, that’s why sometimes when he came home with no one to greet him he would feel really lonely.

He sat on the bed, his legs dangling off the edge, It had been a while since he last went to Changwon to visit his parents, he could have gone this break but, he suddenly feel embarrassed, he didn’t, and the main reason was because he was too ‘heartbroken’, as Soonyoung had said, to do anything at all. It had been stupid of him to spent his summer sulking over Jun and Minghao, Jun was great and Wonwoo liked him a lot, but he needed to get him over as soon as possible to avoid any sort of sorrow.

He reached for his phone to text Soonyoung when he noticed he had an unread message. It was from Mingyu.

 

Kim Mingyu 05:47  
Did you get home safely? :)

Me 06:21  
Who is this?

Kim Mingyu 06:24  
I’m Mingyu!

Me 6:24  
I don’t know any Mingyu, I’m blocking you

Kim Mingyu 06:25  
Wonwoo please…

Me 06:28  
:)

Kim Mingyu 06:29  
you’re so mean……...

Me 06:30  
Alright, so what’s up?

Kim Mingyu 06:30  
Nothing really, just to inform you the book was successfully delivered to Junhui !!!

Me 06:32  
Oh, thanks Mingyu

Kim Mingyu 06:33  
:(

Me 06:33  
Now what?

Kim Mingyu 06:34  
Why are you giving me such dull answers? :(

Me 06:33  
…

Kim Mingyu 06:34  
Anyways, are you home yet?

Me 06:36  
Have been for a while

Kim Mingyu 06:38  
What a coincidence! me too, we have so much in common :’)

Wonwoo wouldn’t admit it but he had a big smile plastered on his face as he texted Mingyu back, he forgot about his previous almost dissociation state, he even forgot he had classes tomorrow.

Me 06:39  
How is that even a thing in common?

Kim Mingyu 06:41  
Well, since I don’t actually know much about you this is all I got, I don't even know what you do as a living :( are we actually friends?

Wonwoo snorted.

Me 06:43  
Calm down….  
what do you wanna know?

Kim Mingyu 06:44  
Everything

Me 06:45  
fuck, you’re creepy

Kim Mingyu 06:45  
I’m kidding !!!!!! I just wanna know what you’re studying

Me 06:47  
I study literature at uni, I’m still an undergraduate

Kim Mingyu 06:48  
cool

Me 06:48  
aren’t you supposed to tell me what you study?  
Me 06:49  
wasn’t that the deal?

Kim Mingyu 06:49  
oh! sorry my bad!  
Kim Mingyu 06:50  
I’m an architecture student  
sophomore year  
:D

Me 06:51  
i see  
so you study and work at the same time or ?

Kim Mingyu 06:52  
yeah, I kinda do both  
but it’s only a part time job  
and I only work on weekends so I guess it’s alright  
Kim Mingyu 06:53  
i mean, we all need some extra money right?  
unless you’re rich  
but even if you’re rich you might want more money  
but you might not need it as much as a broken student  
Kim Mingyu 06:55  
are you rich?

Wonwoo was startled at the quick rate Mingyu’s mind worked, perhaps finding it entertaining, but he didn’t know how to answer him, it wasn’t that he was rich but his family was financially stable, their parents decided to support him (economically) as long as he was a student, after all they wanted him to focus on college and if they were in the conditions to help him they would gladly. He stared blankly at his phone for a while slowly coming to the realization that Mingyu probably wasn’t interested in any of that and wondered why he even contemplated on giving him an explanation about his private life when he had just met the guy. He knew Mingyu meant no harm in his question (he probably was just joking) but rather he felt embarrassment at his own self for almost wanting to give out irrelevant information.

Me 07:00  
I’m not

Kim Mingyu 07:01  
Took you long enough to realize it

Me 07:02  
I went to the bathroom

Wonwoo lied.

Kim Mingyu 07:03  
was it pee or poop?

Me 07:04  
…  
goodbye

Kim Mingyu 07:05  
ahhhhh  
dont go  
i was kiddin  
please  
Kim Mingyu 07:06  
i know you were peeing cause it was quick  
:D

Me 07:08  
why are we even talking about this?

Kim Mingyu 07:09  
cause it’s funny

Me 07:11  
are you 4?

Instead of a reply his phone started to vibrate and Mingyu’s user name was in his screen, before he could even react the call was gone replaced by a serie o notification.

Kim Mingyu 07:13  
IM SORRY  
IT WAS AN ACCIDENT  
MY THUMB IS BIG  
AHHHHHHHHH

Wonwoo couldn’t help but laugh, Mingyu was clumsy.

Me 07:14  
lmao, it okay, i was just about to answer though  
It’s easier than typing anyways

Kim Mingyu 07:15  
are you serious? I like texting better  
sure you’re 21 and not 51?  
who even likes phone calls nowadays?

Seeing how flustered the other got by his previous mistake and as a revenge for calling him 51 he pressed the calling button on his phone. The phone keep on beeping and for a moment he thought he wouldn't get an answer but just then a voice spoke and Wonwoo smiled.

“It’s not that I’m too shy to talk on the phone” Mingyu’s voice was raspy “I just rather texting”

Wonwoo just giggled, a rather airy giggle.

“Also it’s more tiring actually, after a while you ear hurts and your arm too”

“You could just turn on the speaker” Wonwoo said with his deep voice and Mingyu started coughing “what?” he asked.

“You sound a bit different on the phone” Mingyu’s voice was small.

“Different how?”

“You have” he paused for a second “a rough voice”

“Hadn’t you noticed?”

“I mean, your voice is usually quite deep it just sounds... rougher or something so it caught me by surprise”

“pffffff” Wonwoo couldn't help but laugh “it’s attractive right?” He said deepening his voice on purpose.

“ What? pfffff…. no, it sounded like... my grandpa”

“Rude”

“Whatever, why you called?”

Wonwoo hummed thinking, he really didn’t know why he called.

“No particular reason”

There was a quick silence before Mingyu spoke again.

“I don’t wanna go to school tomorrow”

“No one does Mingyu” The younger whined but Wonwoo ignored him and continued “Which university do you attend to anyways?”

“The same as Minghao”

“Oh?” Wonwoo was caught off guard “So are we attending to the same school?”

“REALLY?”

Mingyu sounded happy and Wonwoo was too, the thought of seeing Mingyu on regular basis was nice seeing how well they clicked.

“Yup, but I think we’re in different campuses”

“Well, that’s not too bad is it? The campus is not even that big…… are you disappointed? did you want to see me everyday that badly?”

“You wish”

Mingyu’s candid laugh could be heard from the other side of the line and Wonwoo really wondered how it was possible for him to feel so comfortable around a boy he had just met but then again Mingyu’s coughs from laughing too much made him realize he didn’t really minded at all and for once he would let himself being lead to whatever this sudden friendship wanted to take him to. He was happy.

Both of them kept fooling on the phone for a little while, somehow Wonwoo made Mingyu accept phone calls weren’t so bad and after Wonwoo was done teasing him they said their goodbyes. When Wonwoo was finally covered in the softness of his bed he found himself fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo I know this is late..... like... real late.... sorry ...
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much to those 4 people who commented and thank you so all much for the kudos ;-; I feel like no one pays attention to this story but if you're reading this I hope you enjoyed it and I'm sorry for any grammatical mistakes.... I kinda just uploaded it by impulse... have a nice day and hopefully next update will be sooner tho i don't promise anything! have a nice day y'all xx


	3. Did he just confessed to me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> all he could think of at the moment were his brother’s dumb advices: ‘I had a crush on this classmate but as soon as I told them I stopped liking them’. Wonwoo knew it was dumb to listen to his younger brother’s experiences but perhaps he needed to say what he felt in order to end this whole crushing-on-my-friend-for-over-a-year cycle

The semester continued without anything new, most of his midterms were done before the summer break so right now the workload wasn’t much, however his optional subjects changed every half of the semester so he was taking two new courses. They still had the next week to make a final decision regarding if they ultimately decided to stay in each class or if they wanted to change some of them. Wonwoo liked both of his new courses however he needed to re-adjust one of them, it was the only class he was taking on fridays and the exact same class was also given on tuesdays so why not taking it that day instead to have all fridays and weekends free? it sounded like a great plan in his opinion so why is now he having a mental breakdown in his room?

 

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of his bed with his laptop on his lap he stared at the screen soulessly on a Sunday night. He closed his laptop and reached for his phone starting to type something.

from:me  
to: Soonyoung 07:43  
I fucked up……..

 

 

“Shut up will you?” Wonwoo lazily muttered as his head rested defeated between his arms. Soonyoung laughed a bit more before petting his friend’s hair.

“Poor ugly thing!”

“It’s not funny, my schedule is ruined and so is my life”

“Come on it’s such a bad thing” Wonwoo glared at him before resting his head again on top of the table “when I saw your message and you didn’t answer I thought you had your heart broken again!”

“Having to wake up at 7am every friday for a class I’ll probably fail is ten times worse than a broken heart”

“You will do well, you always do” Soonyoung shaked him a little trying to cheer him up “and even if you still have classes on fridays it’s only two hours so by 9 you’ll be free!”

As Wonwoo was groaning at his fate Junhui took a seat beside him and asked Soonyoung with his eyes what was wrong with Wonwoo.

“He’s wanted to change a class to have fridays free but he lost his internet connection and when it came back the only class available was on fridays at 7am”

“bhahahaha” Jun covered his mouth with his hand trying to suppress his laugh and Wonwoo glared at both of his friends.

“So what class are you taking now?” Jun asked Wonwoo.

“Poetry translation….” Wonwoo looked mortificated.

“It doesn't sound so bad?” Jun looked for Soonyoung’s eyes to find support.

“It doesn’t right?” Soonyoung answered and both him and Jun nodded.

“It doesn’t but I want my previous class…” Wonwoo was sulking and his friends looked sad, they were finally taking pity in his misfortune.

“Was it such a great course the want you couldn't register for?” Soonyoung said once again petting his hair and Wonwoo sighed.

“It’s not that… I mean, it was okay but the thing is it was so easy to approve… this one looks so difficult…”

Soonyoung stopped caressing his hair and squinted at him.

“Of course, all your lazy ass cares about is the easiest way to do things, but guess what? LIFE IS NEVER EASY so this was probably fate telling you to stop being a slack”

Junhui laughed nervously and Wonwoo looked at Soonyoung as if he was surprised but the other gathered his things.

“I have class so I’ll get going, see you around Jun” he smiled at said boy and then he flicked Wonwoo’s forehead muttering a “Stop being lazy” before he was gone.

Wonwoo was only slightly offended but he continued groaning.

“Can’t you just drop the class?” Jun offered.

“Nuh-uh, need the credits….” Wonwoo knew he was being whiny and annoying but he couldn’t help the way he felt.

“But really, the class sounds interesting, you’ll do just fine” Jun was such a supportive friend but that wouldn't stop his bad mood.

“I won’t…”

“You haven’t even taken the class, don’t be so negative”

Jun was actually right and for a second Wonwoo thought maybe the class would actually be okay but a second was all it took for him to realize that not, that class was gonna make his life difficult.

“I mean, I won’t have the class until this friday but it’s not difficult to imagine what are we gonna do… poetry translation, of course we’re gonna translate a poem….”

“What’s so bad about it then?”

Wonwoo almost laughed at his friend question.

“I can barely speak korean, how in the world will I translate a poem in another language?”

Junhui made a face as if he was thinking really hard for a solution.

“You can ask Jisoo to help you?” he suggested.

“I would have to pay him to translate the whole thing cause I cannot english at all”

“Okay… maybe not english but what about chinese or cantonese? I can help you”

“Same problem”

“I can make you a discount?”

Wonwoo glared at Jun who just laughed again, his white teeth showing.

“Okay I was kidding… you never took foreign language classes?” Jun titled his head cutely, Wonwoo was now starting to feel anxious for a whole different reason.

“I did... but that was a long time ago”

“What did you take?”

“Japanese…” Jun gaped at him “but I could never translate a poem” Wonwoo stated rapidly.

“Didn’t Soonyoung in his last year of highschool majored at a japanese literature or something like that?”

“Yeah but he doesn't even remember what ‘ringo’ means….”

“What does ringo means?” Junhui blinked and Wonwoo couldn't believe no one knew how to say ‘apple’ in japanese “See? your japanese level is already beyond my knowledge”

As they were speaking Wonwoo couldn’t help but feel a little hypocrite to still find Jun this cute ‘oh no I’m a mess, he’s already taken for god’s sake’ was all he was thinking but somehow he still managed to speak coherently.

“I mean, I guess my japanese is slightly better than my english but I would need a tutor or something...”

“Oh?” he looked excited for some reason “remember Mingyu? Minghao’s friend?”

Wonwoo’s messy thoughts stopped at the name, how could he forget him?

“What about him?” He said nonchalantly.

“Well, he is actually pretty good at japanese, I think he lived there a couple months so why not ask him to help you?”

Wonwoo shivered.

“Umm… I’m not sure if that’a a good idea, we ain’t that close you know?”

“I doesn’t matter, he’s super friendly, that way you make a new friend and approve your class” He started typing something.

Wonwoo wanted to protest, he and Mingyu hadn’t texted since the last day of summer break, let alone meet again. To say the truth Wonwoo was kinda disappointed they didn’t, he thought they clicked well but it since then he hadn’t hear anything from Mingyu. Wonwoo as well could’ve taken his phone and send a message to the boy but he might have expected Mingyu to be the one keeping in contact since ‘he said he wanted to be my friend’ Wonwoo frowned worried, next time they see each other they might be awkward...

“Great!” Jun chirped happily “I’ll tell Minghao to ask him”

Oh no, Minghao... the guilt started to overwhelm him, Wonwoo really wanted to get over Jun as soon as possible but he didn’t know how and all he could think of at the moment were his brother’s dumb advices: ‘I had a crush on this classmate but as soon as I told them I stopped liking them’. Wonwoo knew it was dumb to listen to his younger brother’s experiences but perhaps he needed to say what he felt in order to end this whole crushing-on-my-friend-for-over-a-year cycle.

“Hey Jun…” Wonwoo spoke without thinking, his friend stopped looking at his phone and stared at him humming to make him know he was listening, Wonwoo took a deep breath “So I’ve-”

“WONWOO?!” a voice screamed from behind him startling him.

Both, Wonwoo and Jun, turned to see who it was and of course, Mingyu was happily walking towards them next to Minghao. Wonwoo didn’t miss Jun’s fond look as soon as he spotted his boyfriend.

“What a coincidence!” Mingyu said as soon as he was standing next to Wonwoo and Minghao looked at his friend as if he was crazy but he kept his mouth shut, Jun giggled.

Mingyu irradiated light, that much Wonwoo knew, and all his we might be awkward worried disappears the moment Mingyu got into his visual field, the urge to mess with the younger boy was strong.

“Hey Minghao” Wonwoo smiled at the boy and the other waved at him shyly as he took a seat next to Jun, Wonwoo then glared at Mingyu “I have no idea who you are or why do you know my name” Mingyu gaped offended.

“What do you keep doing this?” he took Wonwoo’s shoulders and shaked him.

“D-doi-ing w-wha-at?” Wonwoo said brokenly as the younger continued to shake him.

“Repudiating my friendship” Mingyu said after giving him a particularly strong but playful final shake.

“What kind of friend disappears for over a week not even texting huh? You’re dead to me” Wonwoo was mostly joking but a part of him did feel bitter at the fact Mingyu hadn't even say hi to him after all that ‘I think your cool’ talk. Mingyu opened his mouth but another voice interrupted him.

“He was sick last week, my friend here” he pointed at Mingyu “came home soaked and didn’t take a shower...of course he got sick, he couldn’t even attend to the first week of classes” Minghao said giggling and Mingyu looked at him with the look of betrayal “When he heard I was coming to the humanities campus he tagged along immediately” Mingyu’s face was now burning and he was looking at Minghao with resentfulness.

“oh…” was all Wonwoo managed to say, maybe messing with Mingyu hadn’t been that much of a great idea cause now Wonwoo was just as flustered as Mingyu. They exchanged a nervous look and then he looked at Jun and Minghao who were staring at them suspiciously. Wonwoo, in an attempt to stop the weird atmosphere, patted the seat next to him indicating Mingyu to take a seat but said action only lead to his friends staring at them even more intensely. Eventually he took the seat next to Wonwoo avoiding any kind of eye contact.

“Anyway” Jun said after a while breaking the awkward silence but still looking kinda confused “So Wonwoo wanted to ask you something, isn’t that right Wonwoo?”

Still trying to suppress his embarrassment Wonwoo was caught out of guard and not understanding what his friend was talking about blinked stupidly at him, then at Mingyu and for some reason at Minghao too.

“Me?” he pointed at himself.

Jun chuckled and Wonwoo frowned trying to decipher what he was talking about. Mingyu lifted his eyebrow waiting for Wonwoo to speak but no answer came. Jun sighed and turned to Mingyu.

“He was wondering if you could help him with a class” Jun said as he linked arms with Minghao.

‘Right, japanese...’ Wonwoo remembered and weirdly enough Jun and Minghao interaction was the last thing on his mind.

Still feeling a little wary he spoke carefully.

“So I stupidly signed up for a class in which I most likely will have to translate a poem” Wonwoo paused to look at Mingyu’s expression finding him focusing on him, he continued “but I suck at languages and the only one I’m familiar with is japanese but quite frankly I also suck at it” he licked his lips “so Jun told me you were good at it and suggested to ask you for help?” Wonwoo turned to look at Jun for confirmation but all he could find was Jun playing with Minghao’s fingers while the other pretended to be annoyed but it was clearer that water that he actually wasn’t. Flustered to witness such intimate interaction he rapidly focused his attention back on Mingyu but he couldn’t really tell what the other was thinking.

“Ah, I see…” Mingyu finally said but in Wonwoo’s opinion he sounded way too serious, maybe even bored? ‘He’s going to say no’ he immediately thought.

“Uh-h, it was a dumb request, I know, I told Jun it wasn’t a good idea” He started rambling “why would you waste your time tutoring me anyways, I’m sure you’re busy and have better things to do, I mean, I’m not even paying you thought I could?” he was panicking, it was as if he had no control on what he was saying anymore and just as he was about to continue talking Mingyu interrupted him.

“Hey, Wonwoo, it’s okay, I’ll help you, we’re friends after all right?” Mingyu rested his hand on the older’s shoulder and Wonwoo was dumbstruck, from the corner of his eye he caught Jun smirking at his direction as if he knew all his secrets.

“Right…” he answered slowly, all the anxiety he was previously feeling was gradually leaving his body “thank you, Mingyu” he squeezed his shoulder in return and Wonwoo felt something grumble in his stomach.

“So, how about we exchange our schedules to meet when it works for both of us, how does that sound?” Mingyu suggested nonchalantly.

“Yeah, okay” Wonwoo agreed and Mingyu grinned.

“So I guess you will have to think of a poem first right? I’m afraid I can’t help you with that but when you have a poem in mind text me and we’ll meet up alright?” Wonwoo nodded and the other gave him a really fresh and juvenile smile while looking directly at him. Wonwoo thought Mingyu was different, it is true that the younger one was always smiling youthfully but unlike their previous encounters right now Mingyu looked somehow more confident, even if some minutes ago both of them were flustered at the end Mingyu ended up being the one reassuring Wonwoo’s confidence. Nonetheless this was only the third time they have met so it made sense Wonwoo hadn’t seen all sides of his new friend.

Having lost the sense of time he looked at his phone.

“Oh shit! I have class in 10 minutes” Wonwoo stood up rapidly supporting himself in Mingyu’s shoulder “But sure, I’ll text you, thank you again Mingyu, I really appreciate you take your time helping me” he said before parting.

“No problem, and don’t forget to send me your schedule” Mingyu shouted as Wonwoo was already walking away.

“I’ won’t” he shouted back before turning to his friends “see you around guys!” Wonwoo waved and took a last glance at Mingyu, the boy was beaming.

The last thing he managed to hear before he was too far was Jun mutter something like ‘exchange our schedules? smooth’ and a ‘you’re so whipped’ from Minghao but he didn't pay too much attention to it, or at least he decided not to.

 

 

 

The rest of the week went alright, he didn’t see his friends too much aside from lunch two or three times but it was really quick. Since they were resuming the semester there was not much homework, at least not for this week but he could already feel it pill for the weekend. Today was friday and he had just had his first poetry translation class, quite frankly it wasn’t as bad as he expected it to be, the professor was nice enough to let them finish class early but as Wonwoo predicted the final project was the translation of a poem along with a paper explaining what methods they used and the decisions they made about the translation, all had to be with references from the bibliography the professor gave them.

At 9:30 he was at a café near the campus charging his phone while playing temple run, his food barely touched. He had just completed a goal when a serie of notifications started to pop up from the top of his phone, he cursed in silence.

 

Soonyoung 09:43  
WE HAVEN’T SEEN EACH OTHER IN LIKE FOREVER  
IS EVERYONE FREE?  
LET’S DO SOMETHING

Jisoo 09:44  
Sounds fun :)  
I kinda miss y’all too

Soonyoung 09:44  
YES PLS

Jisoo 09:45  
How about a movie?

Jihoon 09:46  
I can’t  
I’m busy and broke  
movies are expensive

Soonyoung 09:47  
awWW come on  
Wonwoo will buy your ticket

That was it, Wonwoo wouldn't tolerate this anymore.

Me 09:47  
Fuck off Hamtaro  
I’m not buying anyone’s tickets

Soonyoung 09:47  
H-hamtaro?  
I thought i was ebichu...

Me 09:48  
You’re not good enough to be ebichu

Soonyoung 09:48  
but she’s cuter

Jihoon 09:49  
Soonyoung is a furry  
ew

Me 09:49  
LMAO

Soonyoung 09:49  
TF??!?!?!

Jisoo 09:50  
Calm down, maybe we can watch a movie at someone’s place?  
It will be cheaper

 

Jun 09:51  
hahaha  
what is happening ?

Me 09:51  
We’re doing something tonight  
prob watching a movie  
r you free?

Jun 09:51  
Oh  
I busy :(

Jisoo 09:52  
:((

Jun 09:52  
I promised Minghao I’ll help him with something  
sorry ;;  
but have fun !!! I’ll make sure to be there next time

Soonyoung 09:53  
There won’t be a next time

Jun 09:53  
why? :((

Me 09:53  
yeah, why?

Soonyoung 09:54  
I have terminal cancer

Me 09:54  
....

Jihoon 09:54  
….

Jun 09:54  
….

Jisoo 09:54  
Oh my god…  
don’t ever joke with that...

Soonyoung 09:55  
lol, sorry  
I’m kidding  
have fun lover boy  
tell minghao i say hi :)

Jun 09:55  
Will do!  
bye for now

Me 09:55  
bye

Jisoo 09:56  
Alright, so at my place?

Soonyoung 09:56  
yup

Me 09:56  
k  
Thanks Jisoo :)

Jihoon 09:57  
… I told you guys  
I can’t...

Soonyoung 09:57  
!!!!???  
but we ain’t spending money?  
:(

 

Jisoo 09:57  
Jun is already not coming  
don’t leave me alone with this two

Me 09:57  
wow, thanks Jisoo

Jihoon 09:58  
alright, I’ll be there  
but i’ll probably show up a little late  
is that alright?

Soonyoung 09:58  
yay!!!!

Jihoon 09:58  
ctfu, I’m doing this only because I feel bad for Jisoo

Me 09:58  
bhahahaha

Soonyoung 09:59  
why is everyone so mean to me?  
y’all hate me

Jisoo 09:59  
nooo  
I love you :)

Soonyoung 09:59  
aww thank you :)

Me 10:00  
uh…  
aren’t you supposed to say ‘ily2’

Jisoo 10:00  
:c

Jihoon 10:02  
you’re the worst  
this is why you don’t deserve to be ebichu….  
ebichu would say ily2

Me 10:04  
it looks like the rat escaped…

Jisoo 10:05  
:c

Soonyoung 10:10  
NOOO  
WAIT  
I WAS BUSY  
JISOO  
I LOVE YOU

 

 

Wonwoo arrived at Jisoo’s place around 6pm with two boxes of pizza, no one was there yet and he was glad cause that meant he could choose where to sit but he was surprised to find Hansol stretched out all over the sofa while eating chips.

“Uh… is he staying with us?” Wonwoo asked Jisoo.

“Yeah” he smiled almost sweetly at Hansol “his boyfriend cancelled their plans and he’s moping”

“Seungkwan is not my boyfriend?” Hansol said puzzled.

“Whatever you say Vernon” Jisoo said in english.

“Who is Seungkwan?” Wonwoo asked as he pushed aside Hansol’s legs to take a seat in the sofa.

“His boyfriend”  
“My friend”

Both of them said at the same time. Hansol glared at Jisoo, the other just shrugged. The door ringed and Hansol got up.

“I’ll get it”

Soonyoung came with two bags of fried chicken and left them on the centre table before jumping into Jisoo’s arms.

“Are you still mad about this morning? I’m sorry, I was taking a shit” Soonyoung said pouting.

“It okay Soonyoung, I’m not mad” Jisoo said while holding his friend and caressing the back of his head, smiling with his front bunny teeth.

Hansol looked at Wonwoo for context and Wonwoo made a hand gesture indicating him he’d tell him later.

“Where’s Jihoon and Jun anyways? aren’t they coming?” Hansol asked sitting once again next to Wonwoo.

“Jihoon will be here in like an hour, he told me to tell you to choose a movie before he’s here” Soonyoung said “Jun is having a date”

“With who? with Minghao?” Hansol asked and Soonyoung nodded “Are they like official now?” everyone nodded “Wow, I had no idea, took them long enough I guess”

“I know, the mutual pining was strong” Jisoo commented.

To say the truth Wonwoo wasn’t bothered by the conversation about his (ex)crush love life at all, he was quite okay if you asked him, however as he was frowning thinking about a good Korean movie to watch in order to not read subtitles, because he realised he had forgotten his glasses at home and he wouldn’t be able to read the subtitles comfortably, Soonyoung threw himself at him side hugging him and almost knocking him out.

“I’m sorry, are you still upset about the whole thing?” Soonyoung said with a sad face. Wonwoo had no idea what his friend was talking about.

“About Jun I mean! I’m sorry, I’m such an insensitive prick, I keep forgetting you like him”

The room froze and everyone stayed silent.

After a couple of seconds that felt like hours Wonwoo finally turned to see his friends reactions (maybe they didn't hear Soonyoung) but he wasn’t even disappointed to see Hansol’s and Jisoo’s eyes were wide open both of them completely quiet. Soonyoung was covering his mouth looking panicked, Wonwoo’s soul left him, he wanted to die.

Soonyoung, probably feeling guilty about revealing his friend's secret tried to fix the situation.

“Wonwoo doesn’t like Jun, he uhh...likes... Minghao?” Wonwoo facepalmed himself.

“Okay Soonyoung that’s enough” Wonwoo interrupted and turned to face his other two friends “So yeah, I was kinda crushing on Jun but I’m almost over it I guess...”

Jisoo’s eyes turned soft, he was probably pitying him, Wonwoo hated it.

“oh, Wonwoo, I didn’t realise you liked him that way, I’m sorry!” Jisoo said.

“Err… It's okay, no one knew anyways, please don’t feel bad… it makes me uncomfortable…”

“I knew tho?” Hansol said.

“You did?” Wonwoo asked him surprised.

“Nah, I’m kidding, I used to think you and Soonyoung were a thing though”

Soonyoung pointed at himself and then at Wonwoo.

“Gross” Wonwoo muttered and Soonyoung faked a hurt look.

“Anyways, how are you so sure you’re getting him over?” Jisoo changed the topic.

“Well, I don’t feel sad anymore, just a little guilty for still liking him a bit I guess? Minghao is a nice guy after all” He scratched the back of his neck.

“You should never feel guilty about liking someone, you can’t control your feelings bro, embrace them cause they make you who you are” Hansol said while he tried to grab the bag of chips.

“Oh.. that was nice, thanks Hansol” Wonwoo said and Hansol smiled at him “Anyways, I’m almost over it I think, actually today I was gonna tell him how I feel just to... you know, let it go and finally move on…”

“That’s bold Wonwoo” Hansol said.

“Yeah, you’re so mature” Jisoo said while eating popcorn.

“Oh my god you we’re about what?!” Soonyoung loud voice said above all the other voices “you can’t tell him you used to like him while still liking him even if it’s just a little bit”

“Why not?” Hansol asked.

“Pfff, well, isn’t it obvious? if he tells him he won’t have to retain his feeling any longer and his now almost over crush will only keep on growing, he will never be able to move on!”

“That’s stupid, you should speak your mind out” Hansol frowned at Soonyoung’s logic.

“Yeah… my brother once told me that after he confessed his feeling stopped so I might as well have the same love genes”

“Your brother is like in high school, he is canceled, this is not some puppy love, we’re in college, this is adults love” He snatched Hansol’s bag of chips.

“Hey! I was in high school less than a year ago?” Hansol said offended.

“That just makes my point stronger” He turned at Wonwoo and Jisoo “Hansol is a toddler and he thinks confessing now is a good idea, now, will you trust a kid” he said pointing at Hansol “or a man?” he finished with a proud grin on his face.

“If you feel like you should tell him then you should, follow your heart” Hansol shrugged.

“No, think about it carefully, use that cute brain of yours” Soonyoung sounded almost frustrated.

“Okay, I think you’re two exaggerating but both kinda have a point” Jisoo said “why don’t you wait until you’re completely over him before telling him hmm? how does that sounds? just to be safe...” Soonyoung beamed at him, Hansol wasn’t looking quite convinced though.

“If you say so... I guess I can wait” Wonwoo said.

“What stopped you from confessing today though?” asked Hansol.

“Uh... now that you mention it i can't even remember… Ahhh! right, so I was talking with Jun about my class when Mingyu started screaming my name, he and Minghao came so I couldn’t say anything”

Soonyoung squinted suspiciously.

“So Mingyu huh?” Wonwoo wasn’t feeling good about whatever his friend was bringing up “Now that we’re talking about it Jun told me something interesting the other day” he reached for the popcorn bowl and put one inside his mouth carefully “He told me you and him were flirting last monday and that he didn’t know you two were so friendly with each other already” Soonyoung said with fire in his eyes.

“We weren’t flirting …” Wonwoo’s ears turned red.

“Jeon Wonwoo, we have let this topic slide long enough, tell me what kind of relationship you have with Kim Mingyu if you value your life”

“Uhh.. sorry to interrupt but who is Kim Mingyu?” Jisoo asked.

“Kim Mingyu? as in Minghao’s best buddy? I know him, he is friends with my Seung-” Hansol coughed and Jisoo gave him a look “he is friends with Seungkwan, they work at the bowling place near the campus, what’s the deal with him?”

“I have no idea who Seungkwan is but I see that you know Mingyu, the thing is Wonwoo here has been acting weird around him” Soonyoung said to Hansol and Jisoo.

“No I haven’t… we’re just friends I guess” Wonwoo was starting to feel awkward about this whole Mingyu talk.

“But how did it happen? Don’t think i’ve forgotten the whole ‘Thank you for annihilating my sorrow’ scene…” Soonyoung said mocking Wonwoo’s deep voice.

Wonwoo was completely and utterly embarrassed at the memory, he covered himself with a pillow, Hansol and Jisoo had no idea what Soonyoung was talking about anymore. The door ringed, Hansol opened the door again and Jihoon came with three pints of ben & jerry's in a plastic bag.

“You still haven’t chosen a movie? Oh my, I swear to g-” sensing the weird atmosphere he stopped his tracks “...what did I miss?”

No one said anything for a whole 30 seconds but then a gasp could be heard.

“You said you were broke yet you bought ben & jerry's?!” Jisoo exclaimed offended.

Wonwoo groaned.

 

 

After Soonyoung (this time under Wonwoo’s permission) told Jihoon about the crush on Jun situation and after they made Wonwoo explaining (almost) everything related to mr. Kim Mingyu he could felt all his friend’s eyes on him. Watching a movie was probably the last thing on everyone’s mind at the moment, of course, Wonwoo’s (love)life was much more interesting.

They all were eating chicken, pizza and ice cream around the centre table when Jihoon spoke.

“Wow, it looks like someone’s got a crush on you” Jihoon said as he took another slice of pizza.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes.

“As I see it” Hansol said while munching a piece of chicken “Mingyu already fell for you, you’re his type” he finished his food while sending him a thumbs up.

“Is he handsome?” Jisoo asked before sipping on his drink.

Everyone turned his attention to him.

“He is tall, like ridiculous tall” Jihoon said.

“His face is ridiculous pretty and symmetrical” Soonyoung added.

“His body is great too, also his hair” Hansol said.

“And his teeth are cute…” Wonwoo finished, Soonyoung looked at him and shook his head “I mean…” Wonwoo tried again “his personality is great, he’s super funny and nice” this time Soonyoung nodded.

“So he is perfect?” Jisoo concluded and everyone nodded, even Jihoon “Show me a picture” he said to Hansol making grabby hands.

As Hansol and Jisoo were stalking Mingyu’s instagram Soonyoung focused his attention back to Wonwoo “So you think his teeth are cute? you’re whipped dude” Wonwoo rolled his eyes.

“So you can say he is ridiculous pretty but I can’t say his teeth are cute? what kind of logic...”

“Before you continue” Jihoon interrupted “Soonyoung is right this time” said boy beamed at his friend’s support “like, being handsome is someone anyone can notice at first glance but teeth? you have too look closely at someone to develop such intimate opinion” Jihoon finished and Soonyoung looked smug.

“Are you sure you didn’t ditch Jun for Mingyu?” Soonyoung asked and the question made Jisoo and Hansol join their conversation.

“Wonwoo likes Mingyu now?” Jisoo asked.

“I don’t” he said defensively but then stopped to think about it for a bit and blinked a few times “I mean I kinda do but just as a friend” Wonwoo said still a little taken aback.

“So you’re not sure huh?” Soonyoung said “Why don’t you give it a shot?” he tilted his head.

“Give it a shot to what?” Wonwoo was confused.

“Dating Mingyu” Soonyoung said blunty.

“What? no, stop, I don’t like him like that, we really are just friends, I don't even know him that well yet”

“He said yet” Jihoon pointed out only to trigger his friends.

“Thanks for the help” Wonwoo glared at him.

“You’re welcome” he smirked.

“Okay, so you don’t know him that well yet, but guess what? It doesn't matter, love at first sight is a think you know?” Soonyoung said, his eyes filled with hope.

“You know very well my opinion about the subject Soonyoung”

“Love at first sight is such a romantic concept” Jisoo said and Hansol snorted “I love romance” he said offended and hit Hansol’s arm.

“Love at first sight is like believing in soulmates or aliens” Hansol said and Wonwoo was about to kiss him for being the only rational one in the room “They are both a real thing” Hansol concluded, Wonwoo wanted to scream.

“Y’all are delusional if you think soulmates and aliens are a thing” Wonwoo said a little bit riled up.

“Hey, don’t be mean, aliens are real” Jihoon said pointing at Wonwoo with the spoon he was eating ice cream with.

“Anyways, can you picture yourself marrying Mingyu in the near future?”

Soonyoung was delusional and Wonwoo snorted.

“I don’t picture myself marrying anyone in the near or distant future….”

“Aww, come on, do you really not feel attracted to him like at all?” Soonyoung asked.

Wonwoo didn’t really wanted to think about it cause if he did he would end up realizing his interactions with Mingyu had been different from the very beginning from the ones he had with the rest of his friends but he ended up realizing it anyway. He started sweating.

“In my humble opinion you could give him a chance” Jisoo said while still looking thru Mingyu’s instagram feed “he’s pretty handsome and seems nice, who knows, he could help you get over Junnie sooner...”

“Yeah, the best way to mend a broken heart is to fall in love again” Hansol said.

“Oh, please, shut your mouth Hansol, you can’t even admit you like that Seugkwan guy” Wonwoo said.

The doorbell started to ring and Jisoo got up to see who it was.

“Not you too Wonwoo, Jisoo is already enough...” Hansol said groaning.

“Who the hell is Seugkwan?” Jihoon asked.

At that very moment Jisoo came with a rather cute looking boy by his side carrying a plastic bag.

“I am Seugkwan” said the boy.

“Seungkwan? what are you doing here?” Hansol got up immediately walking to the new boy as if he was attracted to a magnet.

“My shift ended earlier and so I thought I would pay you a visit you know, to make it up for today” he scanned the centre table full of junk food “but you might already be full…”

“You know I’m never full” Hansol grabbed Seugkwan’s wrist “let’s go to my room?” he said smiling and Seungkwan gave him a weird look “Good luck with Mingyu” he said to Wonwoo before leaving the living room.

“Why were you and Jisoo’s friends talking about Mingyu?” was the last thing the rest of the boys could heard before the door banged.

 

 

“I’ve been looking for a shit ton of poems but for most of them I’ve not a clear idea of what they’re about” Wonwoo said typing something furiously on his laptop.

“You could have use a translator you know, there are plenty”

“I know that Mingyu” Wonwoo glared “but what can I understand when I copy and paste a verse and it say” Wonwoo turned his laptop so the other could read.

I guess he's indignant.  
You must be mortal in your mouth

When he moved his head closer to read, Mingyu’s eyes grow big in surprise to find that indeed, trying to translate a poem from bing translator wouldn't work.

“Wow, that really doesn’t makes any sense” He blinked and Wonwoo sighed.

Almost two weeks had passed since they last saw each other in person but this time Wonwoo couldn’t complain about not hearing enough about Mingyu cause the boy had been making sure to spam him with messages almost every day. It was nice even though half of their conversations didn’t make any sense, it really was nice.

“What you should do first is choose a poem, the we’ll figure out what it says” the other said, arms spreaded all over the table at the study room of the humanities building.

Wonwoo fixed his glasses looking a bit frustrated “But to choose one I need to at least have a general idea of what is it talking about”

“Okay then” Mingyu fixed his position sitting properly and scooted over his chair closer to Wonwoo “What are your options? let me help you choose one” he said and as he was trying to get a hold on the laptop their arms brushed and that simple touch triggered the insides of Wonwoo, suddenly making him aware of the younger’s movements and actions. Wonwoo felt stupid, this was because his stupids friends suggested the idea of dating Mingyu.

“Wow, there’s quite a few japanese poets here” Mingyu said while looking at the page in the screen and clicking random poems “Do you have an specific author in mind?”

“Maybe, I was thinking about Shuntaro Tanikawa, in my freshman year I read some translations and I liked him”

Completely ignoring what the older had just said Mingyu gasped and turned to see Wonwoo with a weird expression, as if he was moved by something.

“Wonwoo” he paused making a high pitched tone “this poem is so cute….” and then he tried to insert his fist inside his mouth to ‘shuffle’ his cries.

Wonwoo took his laptop back and read the title 君は可愛いと. He snorted because really, even though he was bad at japanese, anyone slightly influenced by Japan’s pop culture could understand the meaning of ‘kimi wa kawaii to’, or at least get the general idea of it.

“You’re so cheesy… has anyone told you that before?”

“I’m just into romance, and this poem is cute… I’m definitely reciting it to my crush…” Mingyu said determined as if he had just made up his mind.

“Yeah, I can definitely picture you doing something as embarrassing as that…” Wonwoo scrunched his nose as he laughed a little and Mingyu stared at him, and just keep on staring for a while... then he cleared his throat.

“kimi wa kawaii to” Mingyu started as he once again looked right into Wonwoo’s eyes as if he was reciting it to him “doushite itte ikenaiwake ga arou”

Wonwoo found himself frozen under Mingyu’s soft yet serious gaze until the younger let out a nervous laugh and broke the eye contact.

“Hahahaha… I’m kidding!” he said with a smile, his canine teeth showing, the way his ears turned slightly red not going unnoticed by the other.

Wonwoo was feeling a little freaked out by what had just happened and Mingyu was back to clicking random poems on his laptop when Wonwoo finally snapped back into reality ‘What the fuck did just happened?’

To say the truth Mingyu was looking kinda flustered and it made him scared ‘Does he really likes me?’ Wonwoo thought and at that moment the other turned and grinned at him. Catching him by surprise, Wonwoo’s blinked, Mingyu’s pink lips had a pretty smile spread on his handsome face, a smile dedicated to Wonwoo and Wonwoo only. Suddenly his head felt hot. He quickly snatched his laptop back and started to look at differents authors just to distract himself. ‘This really is Soonyoung Hansol and Jisoo’s fault’ he thought angrily.

 

 

It was almost 3 pm when Wonwoo threw himself into his bed, he was tired and the idea of a nap sounded really appealing. His body was facing the ceiling as he laid against his soft mattress, he was getting more and more sleepy, he thought about everything that happened today. At the end and after almost an eternity of not being able to choose a poem he decided to just go with one of Tanikawa, it was short and he was able to understand a parts of it. Mingyu was already dozing off when he asked him to look at his final choice, Wonwoo felt bad for making him stay to help him, so he had spoken to him in a very gentle tone just to make sure he wouldn’t scare the other by talking so suddenly. Mingyu stretched his arms, his eyes were a bit swollen and a bit watery with those sleepy tears everyone gets when they just wake up or when they yawn. Wonwoo showed him the poem, ‘ひと日’ was the title, Mingyu read it in silence and Wonwoo was feeling anxious for whatever reason. He finally asked him if he understood it, Wonwoo answered that some parts but not entirely, ‘but that’s what I have you for right?’ Wonwoo had said smiling tentatively and Mingyu had smiled back. Mingyu told him that even if it looked short it was a bit complicated cause he himself wasn’t sure of the message of the poem. He was afflicted when the other informed him the difficult of his choice, ‘maybe I should choose other’ he had though nervously, but as if Mingyu could read his mind he said looking alarmed ‘but since it’s the one you choose I’ll help you’ he stopped and with a confident tone he ended ‘we’ll make it work’. The last words of Mingyu ringed in his head.

After he choose the poem everything was much more quick. With a dictionary Mingyu helped him to do a literal translation of the poem, it didn’t take too long but Wonwoo understood why had Mingyu warned him of the difficulty of the poem, the interpretation of it was a little problematic, Wonwoo needed to understand the meaning of it to do a proper translation… which he didn’t entirely... and what sucked more (in his opinion) was that Mingyu couldn’t help him with that.

Wonwoo stared at the ceiling of his room aimlessly, after finishing the translation they decided to go for lunch, Wonwoo had paid for both of them, he felt like that was the least he could do after forcing Mingyu to spend his morning helping him. They chatted a bit about school, Wonwoo made some puns that only he himself found funny and charming and Mingyu somehow ended up spilling his orange juice in the table, he apologized at the cafeteria staff and also to Wonwoo ‘I’m sorry, I wasted your money…’ but Wonwoo in all honestly hadn’t minded at all, in fact at the end Wonwoo even gave him the rest of his tea, it wasn’t on purpose though it was because Mingyu, clumsy Mingyu was also about to choke with his food and since he didn’t have a drink anymore he had reach for the rest of his green tea and had it not been for Wonwoo’s tea the tall boy would already be dead, Wonwoo chuckled at the memories. Mingyu left not too long after, he had a shift at work so he thanked for the food, smiled at Wonwoo and left. There was no doubt, being around the younger was fun, he made him feel comfortable and whenever they were together Wonwoo would end up laughing, maybe at Mingyu maybe with him, but Wonwoo always ended up laughing out loud. Now, as he was laying on his bed, his mind full of Mingyu-related-thoughts and feeling all funny about his friend he had a sudden revelation ‘Could it be that I like him?’ he allowed himself to thought for half of a second but his sleepy eyes opened in panicked, but as if on cue, before he could process the weight of his thoughts, the light of his phone glowed and a message appeared, it was none other than Mingyu.

Mingyu 03:15  
Jeonghan keeps talking on the phone and refuses to help me cleaning the tables because he says i was late :(

Wonwoo smiled at the message, he could imagine the younger pouting and getting all worked up with his coworker, he didn’t even hesitate before he started typing.

Me 03:17  
It’s your fault for being late….

Mingyu 03:18  
come and help me :(

Me 03:17  
bhahaha get back to work or you’ll get yourself fired

Mingyu 03:18  
:(

Me 03:18  
go  
:)

Mingyu 03:18  
:) okay, ttyl!

Mingyu was so easy to please, really, Wonwoo smiled at his phone screen, ‘oh god... I think I might be crushing on Mingyu‘.

For some reason he didn’t panic, he sat in his bed staring vacantly at the wall of his room, thinking. ‘Mingyu’ he muttered under his breath, the name slipped effortlessly and it wasn’t until he heard his voice saying his friend’s name that he realized what he had just done. With his face all hot he opened a new chat group adding Soonyoung, Jisoo, Jihoon and Hansol.

Me 03:25  
I’m feeling funny and I’m blaming y’all….

Soonyoung 03:26  
I’m in class but wym?

Me 03:27  
You… y’all inserted the idea of Mingyu liking me…  
and now i feel weird….

Soonyoung 03:28  
:o  
Weird good or weird bad?

Me 03:27  
idk… just weird…

Soonyoung 03:28  
omg….  
don’t tell me…  
perhaps  
you like him  
??

Me 03:27  
there might me a possibility…  
but it could also be the only the fact that you inserted the idea in my brain  
Me 03:28  
like, i’ve never seen him in that light before  
but today i felt funny…

Soonyoung 03:29  
sorry to break it to you  
but how can you say  
that  
you have never seen him  
in that light  
when you  
literally  
just  
met him  
like  
a month ago  
lol

Hansol 03:30  
Oh wow bro… that escalated quickly  
the love i mean

Me 03:32  
you were here the whole time???

Hansol 03:32  
me?

Me 03:32  
yes….

Soonyoung 03:33  
mooooving on…  
do you like him?

Me 03:33  
idk… it’s weird cause i’ve known him for less than a month  
and we didn’t even really talked until very recently  
so idk what to think….  
it’s just too soon

Jisoo 03:34  
Ahhhh this is cute  
Wonwoo is having a serious case of infatuation

Soonyoung 03:35  
Jisoo  
can  
you  
believe  
!!!!!!  
the first love  
and  
soulmate  
hater  
is now  
a victim  
of love  
at first  
sight  
!!!!!

Jisoo 03:36  
*almost first sight  
but I’ll take it! it’s premature enough to be called love first sight  
!!!!!

Me 03:37  
fuck you  
I’m not in love, I just think he is kinda cute

Hansol 03:38  
but you’re definitely crushing on him right?

Me 03:39  
that’s what idk  
like… it really is too soon even for a crush

Soonyoung 03:40  
I hate to keep bringing him up but  
do you feel different about how to used to feel about junnie?

Me 03:41  
It is different  
with jun, when i realized i liked him  
we were already really close, i’ve known him for quite some time

Jisoo 03:41  
but do you feel different about them?

Soonyoung 03:41  
x2

Me 03:42  
uhhh… idk, it’s too soon ….

Hansol 03:42  
but now that i think about it, both Mingyu and Jun are a little bit alike, they are your type bro…

Me 03:43  
?????wHAT????

Hansol 03:42  
like, they are tall and they have this hottie/fuckboi facade but in reality they are dummy, cute and childish also they are like really rEALLY handsome …..

Jisoo 03:43  
oh god… he’s totally right, they are your type

Soonyoung 03:44  
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
WONWOO  
JEON

Jihoon 03:44  
aren’t you supposed to pay attention to class?

Me 03:45  
tf?????? you were reading the convo without saying a word????

Jihoon 03:45  
I’m helping you to get a ride of mr. hamtaro  
be grateful

 

After receiving all kind of advices from his friends (from Jisoo’s ‘don’t force your feeling, you’ll realize with time’ to Soonyoung’s ‘JUST KISS HIM’) Wonwoo did feel better to have vent but he was also really confused, ‘Isn’t it too soon for a new crush?’ ‘did I already get Jun over?’ ‘Do I have a type?’ He was mostly confused at the speed his feelings for Mingyu (whether they were friendship or something more) had escalated, wasn’t it too soon and sudden? everything about Mingyu was unusual, Wonwoo groaned, he was a mess, ‘I wish I could see him right now’, his mind stopped, ‘did I really just...?’ He collapsed on his bed, ‘I’m screwed’

His phone started to vibrate, not even looking at it he picked up.

“hello?” he said, his voice muted with his pillow.

“Wonwoo?” the other voice answered and Wonwoo’s body shivered.

“Mingyu….?” he questioned

“Hi” the other said from the other line “I know it’s too sudden but...are you busy right now?”

“No” Wonwoo wanted to hit his head against a table by how quick he replied

“I’m sorry to ask you this but do you think you could do me a favor?” Mingyu sounded nervous

“What kind of…?”

“you see… stupid me left the notebook we use to write the sums of the cash and stuff at home… and we kinda need it right now before the manager comes or he will kill us like for real and Minghao isn’t picking up the phone and Seokmin is in class and my other friends are all busy… so can you please…. please help me?” he sounded desperate “I swear I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t an emergency...”

Wonwoo was feeling a lot of thing at that moment but he mostly felt stupid, he felt stupid for feeling upset at the fact that he was the last option Mingyu had thought of, he really was stupid cause he still wanted to see the younger so he just...

“But i don’t have a key….”

“Oh! don’t worry, I’ll call the landlord to tell him to open my apartment for you! oh Wonwoo thank you so so much, you’re a lifesaver I love you so much right now”

“uhh.. okay, see you later…..” He managed to said before hanging up but all he could think of was the last sentence the younger had said, it was ringing in his mind over and over again ‘did he just confessed to me?’ He thought as he picked up his keys to make his way to Mingyu’s place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhh... this doesn't feel slow burn anymore.....
> 
> I'm sorry if this is messy... It's late and I'm too lazy to fix it... maybe i'll do it in the week but for now it's all raw...
> 
> anyways... we have an update today! yay!!! i had a lot of fun writing the living room scene it's a shame there wasn't much mingyu this time but i'll try making it up to y'all lol 
> 
> thank you all for reading !!! :) and happy april fools day!


	4. Between giggles and greasy fries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey” Mingyu said softly.
> 
> “Hi” Wonwoo answered just as quietly. 
> 
> “I came to give you a ride” 
> 
> “why”
> 
> “I don’t know”

The suffocating summer heat from noon had completely vanished and was replaced by a humid heat, gray clouds were gathering in the sky and a storm was probably getting close. It was one of the last few rains of summer before autumn arrived with its strong and slightly cold winds. Still, today’s weather was humid and hot. Even though the sun was entirely hidden, Wonwoo’s hair was sticky on his forehead from sweat. Perhaps taking the subway was not the best option, especially considering it was underground, full of people and he had to go up and down stairs multiple times, but what could he do? subway was much more quicker than taking the bus, and he needed to see Mingyu as fast as possible, not because of his own wild desires no, no, because the notebook he was holding right now needed to be delivered asap, at least that’s what he kept repeating to himself as he walked across the parking lot of the bowling place.

A weird mix between nervousness and anticipation was gradually accumulating in his body as he stepped inside the building. He took his earbuds off and he heard the sound of voices talking, the place was full mostly by young people, what did he expect? it was friday, of course it would be crowded. Slowly he made his way to the counter and saw a rather handsome blonde giving various pairs of bowling shoes to a group of girls. Seeing the large line waiting for their turn he decided to go to one of the ends of the counter where he could ask to other employee that wasn’t as busy as the blond one where he could find Mingyu.

Resting his arms on the surface he scanned the place, there was a lot of shoes and the wall was painted in a bright red color, there was really nothing special about the place so his attention went back to the blonde employee, he looked tired and Wonwoo couldn’t help but notice how his polite smile turned into an annoyed face whenever he turned his back to the customers.

“Can I help you with something?” a voice from the other side of the counter said and when Wonwoo turned to see who was the owner of the voice he faced a young looking boy.

“Oh yes, actually I was wonde-” before he could finish his sentence the boy sighed and interrupted him.

“I’m sorry sir but if you want to register you need to wait in the line like everyone else”

Wonwoo frowned confused ‘why do you ask me if i need something if you’re not even going to listen?’ he thought a little annoyed but instead of snapping he reflected about how crowded the place was, therefore how busy and tired all the workers must be, he also realized that this poor kid was only trying to do his work while probably getting poorly paid, just like he himself, the boy was another victim of capitalism. Before he got lost in his thoughts he smiled at the kid and with his friendliest voice he tried to explain.

“No, no, I’m Mingyu’s friend”

“Mingyu?” the kid asked with suspicious eyes as if the other was trying to trick him, Wonwoo just nodded and they stared at each other for no more than two seconds. The boy sighed.

“I’m sorry sir but being friends with the employees doesn’t mean we can treat you different, if you want to register I must ask you to wait in the li-”

“No, I don’t wanna register, I’m looking for Mingyu” the boy stared at him weirdly and Wonwoo had the need to explain himself but under the pressure of that pair of judgemental eyes he ended up stuttering “he needs me” the other’s eyes widened and Wonwoo panicked “I mean, not me per se but I have something he needs”

“He needs you?”

“Yes! I mean no!” Wonwoo almost screamed.

“What’s happening here?” another boy said from behind him and when he turned he was faced with Seungkwan, Hansol’s friend. He closed his eyes and cursed at his bad luck.

“Apparently Mingyu needs him” the first kid said pointing at Wonwoo. Seungkwan scanned Wonwoo’s face, they had never been properly introduced so maybe the other wouldn’t recognize him, or at least that’s what Wonwoo wished but all his hope was crushed the moment they made eye contact.

“Haven’t we met before?” he squinted his eyes, carefully looking at him.

“u-uhh”

“Right!” he snapped his fingers “at Hansol’s house! you’re Mingyu’s boyfriend” he said totally sure of it.

“Me?” another voice said and Mingyu appeared from a door on the other side of the counter “I don’t have a boyfrie- oh! Wonwoo! hi-aouch” Mingyu hit his own hand with the counter while trying to wave at him and made everyone but Wonwoo laugh.

“Hi Mingyu” Wonwoo said “You okay?” Mingyu nodded furiously.

“So are they dating?” The first kid asked with ‘discretion’ but everyone could hear him anyways.

“That’s what Hansol told me and it seems like it”

Wonwoo was gonna make sure to kill Hansol.

“We’re not dating” both said at the same time sharing a quick look, the two other boys looked at them suspiciously and Seungkwan was about to say something when someone interrupted him.

“Can you stop making fuss?” the blonde one, now done with the previous large line of customers, said in a severe tone as he was getting closer “Why did none of you” he pointed to everyone excluding Wonwoo “helped me?” they fell in silence and averted their gazes “I swear to god, I’m telling Seugcheol you two came late again” he said looking at the two boys and then he pointed at Mingyu “and that you forgot the notebook of the earnings of the month”

“Umm… actually” Wonwoo spoke up in a quiet voice showing said notebook and sliding it on the surface of the counter for Mingyu to take it but instead the other guy took it.

“Who are you again?” The blonde one asked, this time his attention directed to Wonwoo.

“He’s Wonwoo, a friend of mine, I asked him to bring me the notebook” Mingyu said moving his hand instinctively to Wonwoo’s shoulder, the blonde nodded.

“I’m sorry for being rude in front of you” he smiled “as you can see these kids won’t work unless I scold them, but thank you very much for bringing this” he runned his finger through his soft looking hair in a rather attractive movement, up close he could read ‘Jeonghan’ in the name tag of the guy “if you hadn’t we all would have been in serious problems” then he glared at Mingyu and said boy back hugged the blonde in an attempt to be forgiven.

“It’s not a problem, I owned him a favor anyways” Wonwoo said calmly, without realizing he whipped some sweat from his neck. Mingyu stared at him.

“You’re hot” he said matter of factly, everyone turned to look at him.

“W-what?” Wonwoo was embarrassed and couldn't help but blush, which made him feel even more embarrassed than before. Mingyu’s eyes widened in realization.

“No!” he almost screamed “I mean, you’re sweating and even though it’s raining it’s still summer so the air is warm and-”

“We get it Mingyu” Jeonghan said “why don’t you offer him a glass of water?”

“That’s what I wanted to suggest but you all misunderstood” he pouted.

“No one did, just Wonwoo” the first kid said making both Seungkwan and Jeonghan chuckle. Wonwoo wanted to die on the spot.

“Shut up Chan” Mingyu glared at the kid and sent an apologetic look at him “want some water?” he said opening the little door on the counter for Wonwoo to pass. Wonwoo followed him without a word, the sole thought of getting out of there as soon as possible was enough.

 

 

The room he lead them to was small, there were a few chairs, a table full of papers and a lot of boxes, from one of them Mingyu pulled out a bottle of water and offered to him.

“Sorry, it’s probably kinda warm but the refrigerator broke last week” he sounded apologetic, Wonwoo thanked him and sipped while looking at the room.

Now that they were alone he felt more comfortable. He took a look at Mingyu, he was wearing his uniform and was a little sweaty, he also seemed tired. Wonwoo was starting to feel guilty for making him stay at school to help him.

“I’m sorry for whatever happened a while ago” Mingyu touched his arm “they can be nosy as hell”

“It’s okay, they probably just needed a distraction, it looks pretty busy back there”

“It’s a chaos, two of our staff members called sick and the manager hasn’t arrived yet”

Wonwoo nodded and they both stood there as he finished the bottle. Once he was done Mingyu took it from his hands and threw it in a bin close to the door, he stayed for a bit before finally breaking the silence.

“I didn’t thought you would actually come” he admitted, Wonwoo shrugged.

“You sounded desperate”

“Believe me, I was” he laughed.

“Still, thank you for coming all the way here just to bring me a pathetic notebook”

“Well, you’re welcome” Wonwoo smiled.

“Mingyu we need help, no one is watching the counter!” Seungkwan screamed from outside and Mingyu locked eyes with Wonwoo as if asking for permission.

“It’s okay, go, I have to get going anyways” Wonwoo assured him.

“Thank you once again, let’s grab lunch sometime? My treat?” Mingyu asked shyly.

Wonwoo smiled and nodded.

“Sure”

 

 

 

“Sigh”

Jihoon stopped typing on his laptop.

“Did you really just said ‘sigh’ out loud instead of just actually sighing?”

Soonyoung made a sad-looking-face and sighed again. Both Jihoon and Wonwoo looked at each other silently deciding to ignore his friend.

“SIGH” he tried again, this time louder.

“Fine, what’s wrong?” Jihoon said closing his laptop angrily. Wonwoo also paused his game.

“I’m bored” he finally said in an incredibly sad tone.

Jihoon rolled his eyes and opened his laptop again.

“I’M SO BORED I COULD DIE JIHOON DO SOMETHING” he said louder.

“BE QUIET BEFORE I KICK YOU OUT OF MY HOUSE!” he answered back with that glint of annoyance only Soonyoung was capable to awake in such a short time span. Soonyoung pouted.

“I need variety in my life, I’m bored, someone tell me a funny story, quickly Wonwoo!”

“uh?”

“Come on, tell me a love story”

“You know I suck at telling any kind of stories…”

“I’m not talking about any story, tell me again about Mingyu”

This time Jihoon was also paying attention.

“There’s nothing to tell…”

“why? haven’t you seen each other?” Jihoon asked.

“No”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Soonyoung said grabbing a pillow from Jihoon’s bed. Wonwoo thought for a while.

“Two weeks ago I ran into him on the bus…” Soonyoung’s face brightened as he squealed and even Jihoon giggled a little in a teasing tone, but then Wonwoo finished “but he was already getting down so we didn’t even say hi”

“Heeeeeeh? how can you excite us and then disappoint us like that?” Soonyoung rolled his eyes.

“So the last time you properly saw him was when he helped you with your poem?” Jihoon asked and when Wonwoo nodded he snorted in annoyce “Dude… that was almost a month ago….isn’t he Minghao’s best friend? how come haven’t you seen him around when you share half of your classes with Jun and he shares half of his day with Minghao?”

The thing is indeed almost a month has passed since the last time he saw Mingyu. Having no classes together and caught up with the semester there had been no chances at all to meet. It also had past a couple of weeks since the last text message they exchanged but to be fair this was entirely Wonwoo’s fault (he often read the messages out of curiosity before answering them with the promise of doing it later but eventually, with the notification gone, forgetting to do it at all).

Wonwoo frowned.

“I know, I know... I’ve seen Minghao around but just not Mingyu, there hasn’t been a chance” Wonwoo said a little disappointed.

“Hadn’t he promised to grab lunch with you?” Jihoon asked.

“How do you even know that…?” Wonwoo looked at him completely caught out of guard.

“Soonyoung told me” he pointed at his friend and Wonwoo glared at him but the boy just laughed nervously.

“Anyway” Soonyoung started “I’m sure the reason he hasn’t taken you on a romantic dinner date yet is because-”

“How did ‘lunch’ turned into a ‘romantic dinner date’?”

“What I’m trying to say is that he probably hasn’t because he’s busy” Soonyoung finished.

“How are you so sure” Jihoon interrupted glaring at Soonyoung who looked confused “Listen” he stared at Wonwoo “I know you like Mingyu” before Wonwoo could refute what his friend was saying he continued “but if you haven’t heard from him for more than a month after he promised to buy lunch, especially with so many common friends, it really seems as if he’s ignoring you” Wonwoo’s face fell and Jihoon looked troubled “I’m not saying he is, but I just want you to have that in mind because I know you and I know sometimes you create fictional scenarios in your head that end up not being true and with Soonyoung filling your head with void thoughts… I just don’t want you to get hurt… especially after what happened with Jun…”

There was a noise outside the room and a few seconds later the door knob moved and the door was open.

“Hi” Jun’s head popped up and they all stopped talking. Slowly he made his way to Jihoon’s bed sitting next to said boy and looking around them expecting them to said something but quickly realizing no one was saying anything he added looking nervous as if he had done something wrong.

“The door was open so I just came in”

“That’s fine” Jihoon said opening once again his laptop.

“What were you talking about...?” he tried asking but Soonyong muttered a ‘nothing’ a little bit too quick and Wonwoo swore he saw a glimpse of something like hurt on Jun’s face that was quickly covered up with a smiled.

“Ok” he accommodated in the bed and watched whatever Jihoon was doing on his laptop.

There was undoubtedly a weird air surrounding them. With no more words Wonwoo continued his game feeling bitter and guilty for whatever reason.

 

 

If Wonwoo was being honest, going to someone’s house full of people, drunk people to be exact, whose faces he didn’t even know wasn’t exactly what he had in mind for his saturday night. Counting freshman mandatory drinking gatherings this was probably his fifth alcohol party since he started university. It’s not that he couldn’t drink but rather he didn’t, well, at least not regularly and maybe that was one of the reasons he didn’t find parties as appealing as Soonyoung pictured them.

One other reason he disliked parties was the fact that right now all his friends were missing and he wasn't much of a people person which meant he was all alone, sitting in the kitchen trying to find any familiar face.

After a while he gave up and decided to take a look around the house and eventually he found himself in a balcony. The night was very chilly, september was coming to an end and the cold autumn winds made him shiver instantly regretting not wearing a warmer outfit.

“If you’re cold you should get back inside” a voice muttered and Wonwoo turned around.

“I’m okay” he said softly. The lighting of the house was very dim so Wonwoo squinted at the person behind him to see who it was. A familiar guy stood there and he knew he had seen him before but as much as he tried to remember where he was from he couldn't recall.

“I really doubt a sweater is gonna help you keep warm…” he said pointing with his red cup at Wonwoo’s yellow cardigan. After giving a few steps closer until he was completely outside next to Wonwoo and after visibly shivering he turned his head and looked at him with a painted expression “it really is freezing isn’t it? the weather report said the temperatures will keep falling in the next couple days…”  
Still not remembering the guy Wonwoo offered a polite smile to acknowledge what he was saying. The other smiled knowingly, probably realizing the situation.

“I’m Jeonghan, from the bowling place”

Opening his mouth in realization Wonwoo felt his face flush with embarrassment “Sorry” he said softly coughing once or twice after.

“It’s cool” Jeonghan rested his back on railing of the balcony, Wonwoo glanced at him feeling the cold wind hitting his cheeks and nose.

“Your hair” he said trying to be as nonchalantly as he could “you dyed it brown”

Jeonghan was probably caugh out of guard by his comment because for the first time he seemed surprised, even so he was quick to recover his cool.

“Wanna know something?” he turned his head to face Wonwoo but didn’t wait for an answer before speaking again “You’re the first person to have noticed it, none of my friends did”

That was genuinely unexpected because to him the blond hair was the thing that had struck him the most about the other. Jeonghan laughed lightheartedly.

“Don’t make that face, it’s probably because I only dyed it yesterday” Wonwoo nodded in understanding “They were pretty drunk when I arrived here but they still should’ve noticed don’t you think? I’m starting to feel self conscious about it” he touched his hair and puted sightly.

“Being drunk is no excuse” Wonwoo said “They definitely should have said something, it was a pretty jerkish move if you ask me” Jeonghan's face lighted up and he laughed for the second time.

“You’re right, they’re a bunch of inconsiderate dicks” Jeonghan crushed his plastic cup faking anger.

“For the record I like it, I think it suits you”

Wonwoo stared at him waiting for a reaction and felt accomplished to find that the compliment earned him the most sincere smile. Shortly after Jeonghan started to step inside.

“Come on, let’s get inside, I’ll get you a drink”  
“Uh… I actually don’t drink” Jeonghan blinked in confusion and Wonwoo could imagine the million questions that were going on his mind “I mean, I don’t feel like drinking tonight…”

Jeonghan nodded and Wonwoo felt grateful at the other for not asking further.

“Still, let’s go back, it’s freezing out here”

 

 

Jeonghan turned out to be easier to hang out with than Wonwoo had imagined. To be honest not being for him he would have probably left the party a long time ago. They were currently sitting on the stairs of the house, close to the door. Jeonghan was a little tipsy but he still paid attention to Wonwoo’s questions.

“So if you approve all the mandatories subjects you can still graduate even if you don't have all the credits of the optative subjects?”

“I mean, I’m not completely sure how it works for each faculty but at least in the the natural sciences department- heeeey! isn’t that Choi Seungcheol?” maybe Jeonghan was a little bit tipsier than Wonwoo thought because he had no idea who the other was talking about “that little shit didn’t tell me he was coming, do you think he will notice my hair color? he seems pretty sober unlike Seungkwan and Mingyu who were-” Wonwoo’s brain stopped working ignoring whatever Jeonghan was babbling….Mingyu?

“Is Mingyu here?” Wonwoo interrupted Jeonghan, the other just blinked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s friends with the guy who organized the party”

Of course, Jun was the one who invited them here because it was Minghao’s friend’s party, of course Mingyu was gonna be here. As if in clue Wonwoo spotted a very tall person and there was no doubt, Mingyu was here.

Stealing not very subtle looks at the tall guy, Wonwoo suddenly felt anxious or excited? maybe just nervous in general, he found himself self conscious, it felt like a decade since the last time he saw him in person.

His intense stare finally made Mingyu look at his direction, Wonwoo shyly waved at him but to his embarrassment the other didn’t wave back, he probably didn’t even see him because shortly after he started to talk with someone, he was laughing and smiling brightly and Wonwoo felt his stomach contract. Feeling his whole arm as stiff as a rock Wonwoo lowered it slowly. Jeonghan looked at him weirdly. Wonwoo’s eyes were glued to Mingyu and a rush of disappointment took over him as he watched Mingyu leave the house with a group of people, a group of people Wonwoo had never seen. There were so many things Wonwoo didn’t know about Mingyu, things that for some reason he wanted to know, but he didn’t. With the image of his smile, Mingyu started to look distant, almost foreign. It was obvious that Mingyu was a popular guy, surrounded by people, unlike him who had only managed to make one friend tonight out of luck, and what an irony, it was also because of Mingyu that he met Jeonghan.

it was so weird, all the times he and Mingyu had met this wall he was feeling between them seemed nonexistent but now, after more than a month of not knowing anything about the other the reality hit him, who was he fooling? Jihoon was right, he and Mingyu had barely known for a little more than a month? what was he so thrilled for? they were barely friends. Mingyu was probably as nice as he was with him as he was with everyone else.

Remembering he was not alone Wonwoo looked at Jeonghan catching him staring at him with a curious but knowing look. Wonwoo blushed and instinctively checked his phone, he had a bunch of messages from his group chat, a missed call from Jun, two from Soonyoung and even one from his mom.

“I think I better get going... my friends are looking for me” he stood up supporting on his knees.

Jeonghan hummed taking a sip of his drink.

“Next week it’s my birthday party… me and some friends are going to the karaoke” he said nonchalantly, Wonwoo waited for him to continue “I was wondering if you wanted to come?” Wonwoo blinked and the other smirked “Mingyu is going”

 

 

“Maybe I should text him and tell him I don’t feel well”

“What? no! what are you doing? you already bought a gift!” Soonyoung said from the other line.

“I can send it to him by mail”

Wonwoo heard Soonyoung take a deep breath before continuing.

“Wonwoo, this is what you’re gonna do; you are going to take a shower, a hot long shower, dress up with your newest clothes, breath out a few times and take that skinny ass of yours to that karaoke place…”

None of them said anything for a couple of second.

“Do you think fedex will charge me much if I ask for the express service?”

“... listen up you little gremlin, if you don’t go to that birthday party I’ll tell everyone what really happened at the graduation party, I have pictures and even a video”

“... you wouldn't”

“try me”

So that’s how Wonwoo ends up taking a long long shower, dressing with his newest pair of black jeans, a clean (not ironed but clean) white shirt, a nice pair of boats and a long bluish green coat.

He looks at himself in the mirror and sighs. Then he sends Soonyoung a proof picture and get a bunch of fire emojis in response. It’s okay, everything will go smoothly, that’s what he tells himself and he leaves the house.

 

 

Following Jeonghan’s instructions he found himself standing outside of a building in Hongdae. Mentally preparing himself he reassures that the worst thing that could happen is he not talking to Mingyu and leaving shortly after congratulating Jeonghan. Oh god, he did not just admit to come here just to see a Mingyu.

He walks towards the door just when a group of noisy high schoolers leaves, one of them is kind enough to hold the door for him. There’s no turning back, he is forced to get inside.

After notifying Jeonghan that he had arrived, the reception lady tells him to go to the end of the hallway so he does that. Listening to muffled songs as he moves forward followed with the sound of his shoes clacking on the floor he can feel his heart rate increasing. Jeonghan appears from inside a room and smiles at him, he looks a little sweaty.

“Happy birthday” Wonwoo says and hands him a book decorated with a single orange ribbon (it was the only colour available at the store because Halloween was approaching). Jeonghan smiles and hugs him, Wonwoo awkwardly pats him in the back.

“I really am glad we became friends, you’re literally the only one who brought me a gift” Wonwoo snorts and the other laughs.

“Sooo, it arrived more people that what i was expecting and so we rented two different rooms... this” he points to the one he came from “it’s the up beat room and that“ he points to the room across from it “It’s the ballads room, which one do you wanna go?”

Just as Wonwoo was about to ask who was in which room, Seungkwan appeared from the up beat songs room saying ‘I’m going to the bathroom’ and Wonwoo, not feeling in the mood to stay in the same room as someone who thought he was crushing on Minguy, decided to go to the ballads room. Before Jeonghan could say anything Wonwoo opened the door and in that moment he knew he he had fucked up.

Jeonghan came from behind and introduced him to a group of six or seven people he had never seen in his life. Wonwoo sat on the spot closer to the door and silently blamed himself for being so impulsive but also for being so fucking stubborn and prideful because even when Jeonghan asked him if he was sure he wanted to stay here Wonwoo told him that yes, he was sure. And yes, he was an idiot.

 

 

Okay so Wonwoo might had lied a bit saying he had never seen anyone from the room because there were two guys he could recognize, one was the one Jeonghan pointed at the party last week, Seungcheol, and the other one was one of Mingyu’s friends, the one that Soonyoung had made throw up at the bowling place, Seokmin. But even so Wonwoo barely knew them, so he just sat there, awkwardly, really awkward, not speaking unless it was necessary. And this was the actual reason he didn’t want to come, he was afraid this would happen, he was afraid he would end up stuck with a bunch of strangers. This was ten times worse than being in a big party where he could easily pass unnoticed because here in such a small room with so few people he felt like an intruder. They all were having fun and it was very obvious they all were friends or at least acquaintances. He wanted to die, he should be in his house finishing his report-

“Hey, do you want to ask for a song? we can put it in the list” the guy, Seungcheol, asked him.

“Umm… not right now… I haven’t think about anything yet but maybe later” Wonwoo said not feeling comfortable enough to sing.

“Okay, there’s no rush” the other said and patted him on the shoulder “do you want a beer?”

Wonwoo was about to decline but before he could mutter anything he bit his tongue. If he was gonna stay alone in a room full of strangers he wasn’t gonna survive sober. He took the can and smiled.

“Thanks”

 

 

He didn’t know how much time had already passed but it surely had been more than an hour. With his face flushed he cheered at Seokmin’s high score. He was pretty sure he had now exchanged numbers with at least half of the people in the room. To say the truth Wonwoo was a talkative drunk and with the help of the alcohol he wasn’t feeling awkward anymore, he was actually feeling pretty relaxed, relaxed enough to finally sing a full song by himself. He told the girl holding the control the number of the song and got up, they cheered for him and with a smile in the face he stood in the middle of the room.

Just before the song started there was a knock in the door.

“Guuuys, Jeonghan says we should be leaving soon-”

Mingyu and Wonwoo froze as their eyes locked, in the background “How deep is your love” started playing.

 

Wonwoo didn’t realize, it was probably the alcohol’s fault, but the moment the lyrics of the song appeared on the screen he began singing, automatically, while still making eye contact with Mingyu.

“I know your eyes in the morning sun  
I feel you touch me in the pouring rain  
And the moment that you wander far from me  
I want to feel you in my arms again”

Wonwoo was singing without looking away from Mingyu. In his current state he didn’t realized how the atmosphere in the room had suddenly turned weird.

“And you come to me on a summer breeze  
Keep me warm in your love, then you softly leave  
And it's me you need to show”

He gulped.

“How deep is your love”

 

After a while the song ended. Wonwoo licked his lips nervously. Mingyu stood there, right beside the still opened door, with his hair all messy, looking at Wonwoo as if he was the only person in the room.

Someone coughed. Mingyu broke the eye contact.

“Umm… so yeah…. we’re leaving in 5 minutes” Mingyu hesitated before leaving the room but when he did he slammed the door hard enough to get Wonwoo down from his cloud.

“...that was…. umm… interesting” Seokmin said.

What the fuck just happened? Wonwoo wondered in panic.

 

 

It was almost midnight and they were heading to a place to have dinner. Some of Jeonghan’s friends left after the karaoke ended reducing the group to less than ten people. At first Wonwoo wanted to leave too but Seungcheol, who warmed up to him and was probably very drunk, side hugged him telling him that he wouldn’t let him leave without making sure he first filled up his stomach. Wonwoo followed him.

Thanks to the slow pace of Seungcheol’s steps, Wonwoo was able to see Mingyu’s back. The younger hadn’t talked to him and at this point he wouldn’t help but think Jihoon was right and Mingyu was actually avoiding him. ‘Did I upset him?’ Wonwoo thought snuggling in his coat, it was so cold he could see his own breath.

Soon enough they arrived at a bright place full of people. Making sure to stay as far as possibly from Mingyu, Wonwoo ended up between Seungkwan and Seokmin. This time Seungkwan properly introduced himself and the three of them started a conversation that somehow ended up revolving around Hansol. Too caught up in the conversation (he didn’t know Hansol had a younger sister?) he was taken aback when the waiter asked him his order. Seungkwan and Seokmin, both sensing his trouble, ordered first and it was then that he realized they were in a seafood restaurant. Oh.

 

 

“We really can go somewhere else” Jeonghan said in a conflicted tone holding Wonwoo’s left arm.

“It’s okay” he smiled reassuringly “happy birthday again and thanks for inviting me”

“Are you sure you can go back in that state? it really doesn’t look like you have much experience drinking…”

“I’ll be fine”

“Okay, text me once you get home”

“You’re starting to sound like my mom”

“Hey, I want to make sure you don’t die in my birthday”

 

 

After saying goodbye to the rest of the guys and getting and few complains (mostly from Seungcheol) Wonwoo headed to the subway. All in all it had been a pretty good night, he made new friends and he had fun, it really didn’t matter that he hadn’t had the chance to talk to Mingyu... or that Mingyu didn’t glanced at him at all, not even when he left the restaurant... or that maybe he had upset him and now the younger was ignoring him… oh well, we cannot always have things go our way right? He stopped and took a look at the sky, the moon was round and bright, perhaps too bright because for some reason his eyes started to get wet. Almost angrily he wiped them with the sleeves of his coat and wished to be in the comfort of his bed. An overwhelming desire to get home as soon as possible took over him, fuck it, as expensive as it was he was getting a taxi.

He was on his way to the closer avenue when his phone vibrated. Mingyu’s name appeared on the screen. He answered warily.

“Um… “

“Wonwoo?” he answered a tad too quickly “Are you in the subway yet?”

“I am not… actually I’ll get a taxi” he said mildly startled.

“Don’t do that, where are you?” before he could Mingyu speaked again “never mind I already saw you, don’t move” he hanged up.

Confused Wonwoo looked around him and he was fast to spot the tall figure of Mingyu walking towards him. Once he was close enough he stood right in front of Wonwoo, five or six centimeters taller.

“Hey” Mingyu said softly.

“Hi” Wonwoo answered just as quietly.

“I came to give you a ride”

“why”

“I don’t know”

Wonwoo didn’t say anything for a while, he was a upset and having Mingyu right in front of him wasn’t helping him much but after a little while he decided that one of the reasons he was here was to see the younger so he complied.

“did you drink anything?” he asked, time sharper, as he started to walk toward the other direction, Mingyu following him from behind.

“I didn’t” he said, matching his pace.

“Okay”

 

 

Without exchanging a single word they arrived to a street close to the karaoke place from before, Mingyu stopped in front of a black car.

“Is this your car?” Wonwoo asked a little amazed at the fact that Mingyu owned such a nice car but Mingyu shook his head denying it.  
“It’s Minghao’s” he opened the door for Wonwoo get inside.

Mingyu started the engine telling Wonwoo to fasten his his safety belt. Once he was sitting in the passenger seat he felt his face warming up and the sound of the engine made him feel sleepy. He was dozing off when the voice of Mingyu called him.

“Hey can I ask you something?” He said in a red light.

“Mmm...?”

“Why did you left the restaurant earlier?” He glanced at him quickly but Wonwoo just snuggled in the seat.

“I can’t eat seafood”

He mouthed an ‘Oh’ and frowned as if he was thinking.

“Are you hungry?”

“Not much to be honest” Wonwoo stretched and yawned like cat “How about you?” he stared at Mingyu, completely forgetting just a few minutes ago he was still upset “you left without eating right?”

“Ah, yeah but it doesn’t matter, I’m not that hungry” he turned his head accidentally meeting with Wonwoo’s eyes but not being able to hold his gaze he diverted back to the road “I mean, I am a little hungry but I can survive…”

Wonwoo rested his cheek on the back of the seat in order to be more comfortable while looking at the younger. In the middle of the night and under the street lights from outside Mingyu seemed like a dream. His head started to ache, damn, he might have drunk more than he should… he really wanted to sleep and his eyes were closing when... there was a grumble… he opened one eye and saw Mingyu coughing in embarrassment, a small smile made its way to Wonwoo’s face and he forced himself to awake.

“Hey, look, there’s a Burger King” He pointed to the window “Let’s go to the drive thru? I think I’m actually kinda hungry”

Mingyu smiled and complied.

 

 

Holding a greasy paper bag and two cups of soda Wonwoo battled to not spill the drinks while Mingyu drived forward.

“Park somewhere before I spill your sprite on the seats”

“Minghao will kill me if he finds out we ate inside his car” He giggled nervously.

“He doesn’t have to know but please, I beg you… my arms are hurting”

Mingyu reached to take one of the sodas driving with only one arm, he sipped the drink and then made a face.

“This isn’t sprite…”

“That’s because that was was mine you airhead”

Wonwoo took back his drink as the other just laughed and proceed to park. Once he switched off the engine Wonwoo opened the bag letting out the smell of fries and grease.

“The smell… he will notice the smell… he has a sharp nose”

“What?”

“Minghao” Mingyu said panicking.

“Then open the window” Wonwoo was starting to get tired of this conversation.

“But what if we actually dirty the car with ketchup?”

“Do you have a better option then?”

“Look, there’s a park, we should eat there” Mingyu pointed at a dark lonely park and Wonwoo thought the younger had lost it.

“Mingyu… have you realized it’s past midnight?”

“It’s okay, I’ll protect you” Mingyu smiled and had not been for how absurdly endearing Wonwoo found that stupid smile had he not left the car. He rolled his eyes but opened the door.

“If I die tonight it will be entirely your fault"

 

So that’s how they found themselves eating burgers in a park bench at one in the morning.

“I can’t believe they only gave us two packets of ketchup but five of mustard…” Wonwoo whined annoyed.

“It’s okay, you can have both” Mingyu said removing the paper envelope from his burger.

Wonwoo glanced at the other as if he had just said the most absurd thing ever.

“Won’t you put ketchup to your fries...?”

“Nah, I’ll just use mustard instead”

There was a pregnant pause.

“No offense but that’s fucking gross...”

Mingyu rolled his eyes and ignored him. They ate in silence for a few minutes.

“Have you sobered up yet?” Mingyu asked with half curiosity half concern.

“Yeah, I think I feel better now”

“Greasy food will make you feel better” Mingyu said as if he knew Wonwoo wasn’t used to get drunk, Wonwoo wondered if it was that obvious. “You know, you looked pretty drunk when I came to pick you up, your eyes were a little red too”

Wonwoo coughed and nodded, he wasn’t gonna admit the real reason his eyes were red was because he was crying.

Mingyu finished his food and was sipping on his drink when he looked up as if wondering how to say what he was thinking. He inhaled and stretched before turning to look at Wonwoo.

“I didn’t know you were coming today… I mean I didn’t even know you were friends with Jeonghan?” He sounded a little bit accusatory and Wonwoo just shrugged.

“Well, a lot of things happened last month...”

‘Not that you cared enough to ask’ Wonwoo wanted to say but he didn’t. Mingyu still seemed to catch the hint because he lowered his gaze and stopped talking.

“Say” Wonwoo started this time “you weren’t actually avoiding me... were you?”

“I wasn’t” the other said playing with the straw of his drink “… at least not on purpose”

Wonwoo’s face dropped, he felt awfully bitter.

“So you were…”

Mingyu’s eyes opened in panic as he reached for his friend.

“No, Wonwoo, listen” he grabbed Wonwoo’s bony shoulders startling him “I wasn’t, it’s just my friends keep saying weird stuff about us and I thought it might discomfort you” as if realizing the way he was touching him, Mingyu’s hands instantly let go of the other “I know I can be annoying” he had a painted expression as he admitted that and for some reason Wonwoo’s heart crushed “and you started to send short replies and leaving me on read so I assumed you felt uncomfortable around me…”

Wonwoo was dumbfounded, Mingyu was being sincere, he knew that, it was written all over his troubled face and he wanted nothing but that expression to go away, however Wonwoo himself was a little more than shocked at the news, Mingyu was indeed avoiding him but the reasons were completely different from what he had expected.

“So you ignored me to avoid bothering me?” he asked trying to understand what was going on. Mingyu nodded.

“That was the plan but then I saw you all drunk and sad and I didn’t know why but now I’m guessing it was my fault and I feel like an asshole and I’m sorry”

It was relief what flood through Wonwoo’s body, Mingyu wasn’t mad at him.

They stayed still in silence, probably feeling embarrassed.

“For the record your friends jokes doesn’t bother me at all…” Wonwoo said “and I don’t do it on purpose” Mingyu turned to look at him confused “whenever I don’t reply or the short answers, there’s no malice I’m just lazy and often forget to…” Wonwoo explained “I told you right? I rather phone calls”

The smiles they shared were genuine as they kept eating and talking. At this point Wonwoo was completely sober and only fries were left when Mingyu sighed and said:

“I really think we’re completely opposites”

Wonwoo stopped munching.

“Does it bother you?” he asked hesitatingly.

Mingyu smiled at him and shook his head.

“Not at all, it’s refreshing” he touched his tummy making a satisfied sound, then he stared at Wonwoo “you even chose the ballads room when I went for the up beat songs” he giggled “How deep is your love huh? wouldn’t have expected it from you”

Wonwoo hit him in the arm with no malice.

“Shut up”

Mingyu smirked and the dark lonely park suddenly didn’t feel as dark or lonely as before. It was then, between giggles and greasy fries, that Wonwoo realised that he was far gone. ‘I’m fried’ he thought but deep inside he knew that he didn’t meant it, deep inside he was content because after all that’s how you feel when you’re around the person that you like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi... it's been like a decade and there no excuse for me... idk what I'm doing anymore... this is a mess lol but I'm having fun and I hope you guys enjoyed it!
> 
> kudos and comments are welcome!!! (also happy early bday to jeonghan)


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